Secrets To The Grave
by Moonlight Snowflake
Summary: Ever since her 15th Birthday Astrid has had little sleep, bad luck and near death experiences, all due to an angry ghost from the past who wants revenge, but why on Astrid ? She doesn't even know her. With the help of her friends, they must uncover a forgotten tale and fix the past before Astrid ends up joining her ghost in death. T just in case
1. Chapter 1

**(Oh Moonlight, why do you do this to yourself, like you don't have enough story's to worry about, well it all started when I was having writer's block and decided to listen to music to clear my head, I end up finding this song called, "Secrets" by Pierces. After a few plays it got stuck in my head and I just KNEW I had to make a story out of it, and my head wouldn't allow me to think of anything else until I did a chapter)**

The lighting cracked like a fierce whip outside, rain hit the houses of Berk like shattered glass coming from the thunder clouds, so dark a grey that they looked deep black with the night sky and their signature rumbling sound to follow it.

Though it wasn't like anyone could hear it or took notice over the joyous sound of music filling the Great Hall.

Astrid's 15th birthday, presents, music, friends and family, a feast and mead to go along with it. Villagers could be seen either dancing to the music or enjoying the feast and mead that was offered. . . .especially the mead.

Though Astrid was usually more stiff when it came to special occasions, she herself couldn't help but laugh with sheer delight along with the others, it was her party after all. Besides that was before the peace between the dragons and vikings, and this was her first birthday with Stormfly.

Unknown to her. . . . .

. . . . she was being watched.

Hiccup couldn't help but smile at Astrid, and the way she laughed. Before he defeated the Red Death, she was always scowling or glaring daggers at everyone, especially him, ready to act when needed, and even now she still had that serious demeanor, so it was a pleasant surprise when she let herself go a little.

"See something interesting son ?"

"Yeah-wait what ?" Hiccup turned around to see his father raising an eyebrow to him, even though he already knew the answer.

Hiccup's face was turning redder by the second, "wait. . what. . who me.. nah. . .nothing interesting. . just uh. .um. . . " Hiccup slurred and stuttered words together in a jumble as he rushed to put his hands in his pockets, "just you know. . . .looking around is all".

Stoick, though clearly unconvinced just nodded with his son. "Well then I hope you find what you're looking for" he chuckled, giving his son a gleeful slap on the back and went along.

"_Oof"_

A simple slap to Stoick was practically a push to the floor for his son who quickly was about to make impact with it until something big and scaly caught him and allowed him to get back up on his feet.

Hiccup smiled and petted the reptile, "thanks bud".

Toothless smiled, pupils big and round showing a friendly mood. Using his snout he sniffed at Hiccup's vest. . . . or rather what was_ inside_ the vest.

Now would be the perfect time to give Astrid his present, listening closely, he could hear the sound of rain had dimmed dramatically, _perfect_. The plan would be to race her to the cove and give it to her there, it was more dramatic that way, plus he never did feel quite comfortable in the presence of many people, but alone, just the two of them would be better than with dozens of eyes watching him.

Hiccup had spent long nights in the forge getting it done, he had to do it at night because if anyone saw him in the day, wanting to rather work long hours in the forge, instead of going dragon flying ? There would be suspicion, and he had made extra sure that no one would or could ruin the surprise.

He walked around the Great Hall towards Astrid with her parents, laughing with the people around her and stroking Stormfly's snout. Her laugh made her eyes light up and the smile showed her pearl like teeth, this just making Hiccup even more self-conscious.

"You know. . . .she looks busy I'm just going to wait till tomor- _*ow*_" before he could walk out the door, Toothless manged a quick tail slap to the face of his rider, just before turning behind him and shoving him towards the birthday girl.

"Alright, alright I get it, thank you for your support" Hiccup said in his usual dry sarcasm. The teen took a deep breath and walked towards Astrid with Toothless following pursuit.

Looking up and seeing the chief's son approaching them, Mrs. Hofferson grinned and now took it upon her to excuse her and her husband from the two teenagers, Astrid's mother grabbed her husband's arm "dear can I talk to you over there ?"

"Can't you say it here. . .

"No, it has to be over there, come on" and she spouted quickly as she shrugged her and her husband away towards the other end of the hall. It had never been said or established, but she saw the way Hiccup and Astrid looked at each other. They clearly loved each other, why did they have to make it so complicated.

Astrid cocked her head, confused at her mother's strange behavior, "well. . . .that was weird ?"

"Yeah. . ." Hiccup agreed "anyway Astrid, I was wondering if. . . .

_"REEEEEEEEEEH"_

Hiccup put his hands over his ears at the sound, before he even could finish his sentence, Stormfly, began to growl and whimper, shaking her head, twitching, _trembling_, as if she was in pain. Astrid looked up at her dragon and tried to put a hand on her snout, "Stormfly ? Girl ? Are. . . are you okay ?"

Hiccup turned around to see that Toothless too, was growling and shaking his body with agitation. His eyes have now become slits, biting his enacted teeth at the air as though some invisible force was causing his agony.

The wind started to pick up, stray tree limbs, leaves and small stones started hitting the building and the rumbles of storm clouds grew louder and deeper.

Now looking around, Hiccup could see that all the dragons were acting in the same behavior. Villagers either stepping away from the frustrated animals or trying to get them under control.

Rain beated harder outside with such a ferocious tempo.

"Hey Toothless, what's wrong bud", though he tried to sooth the his friend, Toothless continued to cry out in pain with the others. Unnoticed to them, all still distracted, with trying to calm the dragons, one of the wooden pillars near Astrid started to make a splitting wood cracking sound on the end.

A sudden, spine shivering, shot of lightening flashed across the sky. a shot so loud that even in all the commotion, every soul that night could look back and say with the utmost truth that they heard it.

The Hall seemed to have freezed, all vikings frozen in place at the sound.

And just like that, as though the bolt had hit some sort-of reset button. . .

The dragons ceased.

All became quiet,

As if whatever had been torturing them them had made a sudden and complete _**stop**_. This happened just in time for Toothless to notice the wooded pillar tipping and reaching closer to Astrid.

Toothless's green eyes widened in fear as he made a loud dragon cry and used his snout to turn Hiccup around to see what his dragon alerting him for, a pillar was just about to fall and land on Astrid !

"ASTRID LOOK OUT", without thinking, Hiccup leaped into action and pushed Astrid and himself to the ground just few feet from where she was standing, just in time for the wooden pillar to crash to the ground.

Everyone gasped, some circling around the fallen wood, and some circling around the couple that was almost crushed a mere moments ago.

"Are you two alright" Stoick said approaching them, concerned for his son and friend.

Astrid nodded nervously "yeah. . . I'm. . . .I'm fine, just a little. . .a little shaken up" she replied, her heart pounding fifty beats a second. She turned her attention to Hiccup, "Hiccup you saved me. . . . . . thank you".

Hiccup gave his signature goofy grin, right before realizing he still had his arms around her waist, he quickly let go of her and had one rub the back of his neck .

"Hey you would have done the same for me, I'm just glad your okay".

"We better get the rest of the beams inspected, so we don't have another accident like that again" Stoick commented, inspecting the splintered end of where the pillar broke and fell.

"Eh. . . .I hate to tell you this Stoick but this was no accident".

Gasps filled the room as eyes turned to the speaker, Gobber.

"What. . .what do you mean" Hiccup asked puzzled.

"I mean, if this was an accident, then the dragons started acting crazy just moments before, that's a little to coincidental if you ask me" Gobber confirmed.

Stoick had to speak fast before a riot of panic broke out, he looked at the people, now with either worried or suspicious faces looking at one another. "What ever has happened, rest assure you all, that it will be found out, there will be an investigation in the morning, until then, all are to go to their homes and lock their doors, we'll continue this at breakfast tomorrow".

Everyone, though hesitantly, agreed and left the Hall to return to their own homes.

"I uh. . .guess I'll see you tomorrow" Hiccup said awkwardly.

"Yeah. . tomorrow. . .okay goodnight" Astrid nodded.

"Goodnight", Hiccup answered softly and with that he followed his father out with Toothless trailing not to far behind.

* * *

Astrid and her parents were the last to leave, slowly walking back with Stormfly to the Hofferson household, but as they were walking Astrid noticed something.

The _storm ?_

It _stopped_ !

In fact, other than the wet grass beneath her feet, their looked to be little to no evidence of their even _being_ a storm to begin with.

But how can that be ?

The night had turned peaceful, now all was calm, the only moving piece of weather was the wind that blowed slightly, and maybe it was her mind playing tricks on her, or her nerves getting to her, but to Astrid, the wind almost sounded like a _voice _whispering.

_"I'm back"_.

**(Okay, so not the creepiest chapter, but it will get creepier as time goes on, hope you like it anyway, oh and because of copyright, **_**"I do not own any **__**part of the HTTYD franchise"**_**, well glad that's over, anyway read and review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	2. Chapter 2: A Dream and An Ax

**(For those who are wondering about "Coming Home" and "To The Future", don't worry, I haven't abandoned them, they both should be updated by Sunday at latest, but for now, I hope you like this chapter of "Secrets To The Grave", enjoy)**

The walk up to the Haddock house on top of the hill remained silent. No one questioned the lack of rain, no one mentioned the "almost" demise of one of Berk's greatest teen warriors, and no one conversed about how a investigation would be taken in the morning.

Everything was silent.

What had suppose to be an enjoyable evening had turned into a real-life nightmare. By the time Hiccup had reached his home all he wanted was to lie down and be given the gift of sleep. It was quite amazing how a near-death experience, no matter how quick, could wear a guy out, Hiccup still couldn't lower the loud and fast pumping sound in his chest from the fright.

Upon reaching their home, the silence didn't leave. Stoick turned to Hiccup, giving him a silent nod before turning back to his bedroom, Hiccup returned the signal as he led Toothless upstairs with him for the night.

When Hiccup reached his room, he plopped down onto his bed, getting under the furs. Toothless followed pursuit, wobbing over to his stone slate, using his fire to make a burn mark in it to warm his "bed".

"Goodnight bud"

The reptile gave a small nod in return and laied down on his rock slate.

Hiccup laied down on his bed and looked up at the ceiling, counting the dark knots embedded in the wood, listening to his heart-beat finally beginning to lower down to a steady cadence. His head filled with flashes back to the party, and though he didn't want to, Hiccup couldn't help but think of what might have happened if _maybe_ he was a moment, _just a moment_ too late.

The thought scared him.

Tired and stressed from the night's event's, the universe finally pitied the teen and allowed the calm relief of sleep to take his body.

* * *

The Berk forest, the sky looked a mix of blue and gray, the tree branches tangles together in twisting shapes. Hiccup allowed himself to walk down the hill of the forest, sinking him deeper within the dark brush. It seemed like hours of endless walking and Hiccup began to question what purpose there was in this dream, but then something made him pause his walking.

_"If I touch a burning candle I can feel no pain"_

A voice. A voice singing so soft and sweet, it sang so quietly, as though the owner of it was trying not to cry.

"Hello ?" Hiccup asked.

_"If you cut me with a knife I feel the same_"

What could make someone sing such sad lyrics ? Who could be so miserable that a cut through the knife would have no effect on their sadness ? Hiccup pondered this, running across tree to tree trying to track the singer.

_"And I know you're heart is beating, and I know that I am dead"._

_"But the pain here that I feel, try and tell me it's not real_"

Hiccup was now running and turning every corner he could, he needed to find the singer, to comfort them. To help them. No one should have to feel this way.

It sounded silly and perhaps strange, but somehow, Hiccup found himself _drinking_ in the song, every note, every sad melody, he **_felt_** it. He could feel the agony of the song's owner.

"Hello ?" he cried. "Please, let me help you" he called out louder.

"_For it seems that I still have a tear to shed_"

As the song came to a close, Hiccup felt his chest tightening and small bit's of water gloss his eyes, he found his legs no longer had the energy to keep moving, leaving his frozen to his spot. It was though the sadness of the singer and their song had made their way into Hiccup's very soul.

Suddenly, at the corner of his eye, he saw something. It was quick, but it was there, running past a tree.

"Hello ?" he asked again

Now he saw it clearly. . . .well, sort of ? A shadow run past another tree.

A _human_ sized shadow.

"WAIT" he called out and dashed in their direction.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to help".

The shadow dashed away again, this time when he followed it, Hiccup became only a few feet away from it. All he could see was their back-side, and the fact that they had long, dark, black hair.

Finally Hiccup made it to a clearing in the wood.

But when he thought he had finally reached them, Hiccup looked around, all he saw were trees circled around him.

But no one else in sight.

* * *

In dream, Astrid was walking through complete darkness.

"Hello, anyone here ?" she called. At first nothing, then came the faint sound of a giggle.

_"heh heh heh"_ it was soft, innocent and girlish, yet something about it was very _unsettling_. Hearing the giggle to be the only sound, Astrid followed it, as she ran through the darkness, it suddenly began to morph and change and soon shifted to become the Berk forest.

"Hello, where are you ?" she cried out. Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw something go around a tree, like a gray and black blur, Astrid followed to the tree, but with nothing behind it.

_"heh heh heh"_ the giggle again, causing Astrid to turn around to see the blur going in the opposite direction. Once again Astrid followed pursuit, only to have it disappear the moment she arrived.

"What's going on" she turned around to turn back.

Again she followed their direction, "_heh heh heh_"

Lifting her head and up in a tree she could see the blur of a person sitting on a large branch. Astrid quickly put her body onto the pine, struggling, she dug her nails forcefully into the wood, and began to climb, while trying grabbing any spare tree limbs sticking out that she could use for support.

"_heh heh heh_"

Astrid's eyes widened, turning her head, she saw the shadowy blur giggling up at her.

From. The. _Ground_.

Right before running away again in the opposite direction.

_"__Uhhhg__"_ Astrid groaned, "you have _got_ to be kidding me". Astrid unclucked her nails from the tree bark and dropped down, landing gracefully onto the ground and running after the shadow.

She ran all the way through the forest until she reached a clearing, when she finally allowed her legs to stop she felt **exhausted**, bending her knees, trying to catch her breath from all her running and climbing.

Standing back up, Astrid slumped her shoulders in defeat. The blonde allowed a low sigh escape her lips, and was now ready to turn heel and leave to find something else in her dream forest.

But the moment she turned around, a face appeared only inches from her.

"Ahh" Dream Astrid shrieked, stepping back a few steps, "what in the world ?", the figure was of a girl, about Astrid's age, a face so pale and practically see through, her hair was long, dark, and flowing in the wind. She wore only a long, gray, sleeveless dress that looked slightly tattered at the end, the only other thing she wore was a small necklace.

But her eyes, her _eyes_, a light blue, even lighter than Astrid's, they chilled in icy cold and light pink lips that made a sinister smile, as if mocking the blonde's confusion.

The girl walked towards Dream Astrid, who now wanted to run away, but found herself not being able to move, not even have kept the ability to close her eyes to try and block the figure out.

As she was once again face to face with Astrid, the girl's smile deepened.

Her ice cold eyes sparked with life

She slowly put one finger to her lips. . .

_"Shhhhhh"_

* * *

Astrid's eyes shot opened to find herself back in her room and breathing heavily, putting one head to her fore-head she found herself covered in sweat, but that didn't help the fact that right now Astrid felt like she was in an ice box, the room was _freezing. S_he shivered in her blankets. But she must have slept through the night because the blonde soon heard the sound of a nadder tapping at the glass of her window, ready for a morning flight.

Happy to see a familiar friendly face, she quickly went out of her bed and put on her boots to unlock the window so she could pet the reptile, hoping it could ease her nerves.

But it didn't.

For as soon as Stormfly put her head into the bedroom, she began to whimper and shake her head.

Just like the night before.

Seeing the distressed dragon, Astrid went to pet her head to sooth her. But the moment she was close enough, Stormfly grabbed Astrid with her mouth, put her on her back,and flew away.

"Stormfly, put me down" Astrid demanded, but to no avail, it seemed like Stormfly wanted to get as far from the house as possible. _But why_ ?

The nadder landed near at the Great Hall, where she'd usually land after a morning flight, as if trying to pretend that whole, 'kidnapping-her-rider' thing never even happened.

Astrid sighed, she might as well get some breakfast, at least she remembered to put on her boots first, though her armor, ax, leather skirt and headband were all still in her room, but from the way her dragon acted, now wasn't the best time to try and go back, she could always borrow a spare ax from the academy later. She turned to face Stormfly, "no chicken this morning", and she went inside.

It seemed people were just now getting into the Great Hall, there were only a few in the building and some quickly followed in after her, she grabbed her food and a mug, but now again developed the feeling of being watched, except this time, she actually was, looking around she saw others looking at her while she walked towards the teenagers table, but would quickly turn back their heads once she acknowledged them.

Hiccup seemed to be the only one there, while the rest of them were still getting breakfast, but he was so wrapped up in his notebook to notice her.

"Hey Hiccup" Astrid said but no response.

The blonde sat beside him and poked at his arm, "Hiccup".

"Huh, what, oh hey Astrid. . . . wow" Hiccup's emerald eyes widened, "you look. . . . . ._different_". She did indeed, her soft, straight, smooth, blonde hair was no longer in it's original braid.

But down pass her shoulders, which lacked of it's usual armor pads. Her skirt also lacked it's leather spike interior and was now just a smooth scarlet under skirt, her ax was no longer at her side either. The lack of metal and the downed hair made her look less intimidating, but also not as stiff as she usually was, and Hiccup certainly didn't mind.

"Huh, oh yeah, the weirdest thing, I wake up and as usual open my window for Stormfly, next thing I know she just grabs me and flies off, I don't even get a chance to grab my armor before I'm lifted up into the air" Astrid explained.

"Hey you don't hear me complaining babe" the two vikings turned to find Snotlout taking a seat across from them.

Astrid smiled, "aw thanks Snotlout", and she took a seat near him, "that's so nice of you, in fact here" .

_*Punch*_ right in the arm.

"Just be happy I don't have my ax" she spat and returned back to her seat with Hiccup.

"Wow what's with you", Tuffnut said as him and his sister took their seats.

Astrid scowled at them, "what do you mean" ?

"Hey cool it", Ruffnut said, hands up in front of her, "we're just saying that you seem a little more violent than normal, you don't usually threaten with an ax over a stupid, pitiful pick-up line".

"Yeah. . . .wait what" Snotlout said, trying to think whether he'd just been insulted or not.

Astrid huffed, "look I just had a bad sleep okay, so I'm a little on edge".

Fishlegs approached the table, "Well it is understandable, near death experiences can leave people with little sleep, paranoia, and quick temper".

Snotlout rolled his eyes, "thank you Professor of Useless Knowledge".

Tuffnut chuckled, "oh yeah that, when Hiccup saved his "precious girlfriend"

This making Hiccup choke on his water, "_*cough* *cough*_, excuse me".

Ruffnut laughed with her brother, "hey man, **_I_** wasn't the one with my arms around her".

"She was almost _crushed_ by a pillar !" Hiccup defended, getting irritated.

"Yeah, besides he didn't _save_ her, so he pushed her to the ground, big deal" Snotlout groaned.

The twins began to debate, "but. . . .

"Would you just shut up already", Astrid said, "let's just go to training alright, before our dragons get impatient", she added, wanting to change the subject. But as everyone rose from the table and walked out to the arena. . . .

_*woah*_, Astrid tripped on something and fell to the ground, Hiccup quickly helped her get to her feet, "you okay ?"

"Yeah just tripped" she rested her eyes to the floor, "on my _ax_ ?" she exclaimed, checking it, it was definitely her ax.

"I thought you said you didn't grab it before Stormfly carried you off ?" Hiccup asked.

"I didn't. . . .at least. . . . I don't _think_ I did ".

Hiccup was quick to shrug it off, "it was early in the morning, let's just go before we get too far behind ".

Astrid nodded, "yeah let's go" and she went to follow her friends out the Great Hall.

**( Well a little more creepier, hope you like it, as usual please read and review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	3. Chapter 3: Katherine

**(Hello and welcome back, sorry for the wait, I've had some writers block for this story and was trying to fix the outline, but I'm back now, and be sure to review afterward. . . .please, I really like reviews, helps drive me in writing with that said, on with the show)**

Astrid and Hiccup were luckily able to catch up with the rest of the team to the dragon training academy. But Astrid still couldn't quake away what happend to the ax, she could have sworn it was still in her room when Stormfly carried her off. Could she may have taken it right before her dragon went crazy, and why _did_ she act crazy to begin with ? Did it have anything to do with that dream last night ?

_"No that's crazy"_ Astrid thought, though now, the more she thought about it. . . .

_The less she could remember of the dream._

Once they reached the academy they found the others waiting for them. "Well now that we're all here, let's start shall we" Gobber stated, the teenagers circled around him, waiting for direction. "Today we'll be working on fighting in combat _without_ your dragon, let's pair up, Snotlout your with Fishlegs, twins you go together and Astrid your with Hiccup"

Hiccup turned to Astrid, "please don't break anything".

She smiled, "I make no promises".

They readied their positions, the minute Hiccup raised his hand to do a blow, Astrid grabbed his wrist, and spun it around his back and pinned his down, a quick and easy victory.

Astrid, of course thought she won but as she kept her grip on Hiccup's wrist, her shoulder began to develope a sharp stinging pain.

Now becoming worse by the the second. At first was easy to ignore, but in a matter of seconds, Astrid felt as though her shoulder was on _fire_, the burn twisted inside her skin like a knife and the hair's on her back stood up straight.

The blonde warrior gritted her teeth in defiance, refusing to give in, but the stinging refused to cease. It was as if someone was twisting, pinching and clawing at her shoulder.

"AHH" Astrid hissed, finally having to take notice of the irritation. Releasing Hiccup's wrist, she turned her head around to who was twisting at her shoulder

. . . .but no one was there.

She turned her head left and right to see who it was but all there was, was Hiccup, now puzzled at her sudden stop and everyone else was with their partner.

"ASTRID DUCK"

"Wait what" Astrid looked up to see her ax headed right towards her, she allowed herself a high pitched scream as she ducked her head just in time for the blade to go above her and hit the rock wall of the arena.

By this time everyone was now looking up at her, Astrid turned to see the ax still stuck in the rock, the look of pure shock and fear, quickly melted away into a look of anger and aggravation. She walked to where her ax was, wrapped her fingers around the wooden handle and forcefully pulled the blade out of the rock. Looking at her reflection in the weapon, her anger began to boil at an rapid rate. The blonde's head turned to the vikings staring at her, blue eyes filled with rage.

"WHO THREW THIS, WHO ?"

No one would dare to speak up.

"IS THIS SOMEBODY'S IDEA OF A JOKE ?", everyone stayed silence.

"Fine" she spat out with as much spite and venom she could put into the word.

With that said, Astrid called for Stormfly, boarded her and flew out of the arena.

"Astrid wait" Hiccup cried out but Gobber put a meaty hand on his shoulder, "let her cool down first lad or you might be loosen another limb as well".

Gobber turned to the rest of the group, "but back to where we were, which one of you threw the ax, come on, speak up".

But just like before, the arena stayed in silence, Gobber frowned and narrowed his eyes, "uh huh, alright then".

He looked at the remaing riders, "hmm" he pondered, "was it you Snotlout ?"

"What, no, ask Fishlegs, I was busy beating his but, right legs"

Fishlegs nodded, "yeah he's right he was busy beating... HEY".

"Well how about you two" Gobber pointed.

Ruffnut stopped him, "hey we might not be the smartest, but even we aren't stupid enough to put a blade at Astrid".

Tuffnut agreed, "yeah, she'd have us dodging nadder spines for hours. . . .hmm nadder spine dodging, can we try that ?".

Hiccup looked to the crack in the wall from where the battle ax was, "well if none of _us_ did it

. . . .than who did ?"

* * *

Later that day, now that he was sure she cooled down, Hiccup flew Toothless and found Astrid on Stormfly, "hey Astrid". She turned around to find Hiccup smiling at her, she slowed down so he could catch up.

"Hey Hiccup, look I'm sorry about earlier at the arena" she smiled weakly but Hiccup shook his head, "there's no need to apologize, you had all reason to get upset, I'm just glad your okay".

"Thanks Hiccup"

Almost immediately, a new idea popped into Hiccup's head, "well now that your feeling better. . . how about a race to the cove".

Astrid's lips broke out a grin, "oh your so on".

"Great, 123GO" he rushed the words together so fast that before Astrid had time to think, he was gone.

Hiccup allowed himself to laugh at his soon-to-be easy victory, he knew Astrid was storming after him, he knew she'd be upset with him once they landed, but he also knew she'd be laughing about it soon afterwards, plus it'd help get her mind off this whole ordeal.

But as he flew he started to notice something.

He couldn't see Astrid. Though Stormfly wasn't as fast as Toothless, she still was pretty quick, they had to at least have gotten into vision distance by now.

Confused, Hiccup bended his knee back in order to fold Toothless's tail to slow down, "come on bud, we should turn back".

"Astrid", Hiccup called "Astrid" but no answer. "Astrid".

After several minutes of no reply, he decided she was probably already at the cove until. . .

"Hiccup ?. . . . HICCUP !"

The young viking turned his head, "Toothless, find Astrid", the Night Fury nodded his head and quickly picked up speed in where the direction the cry came from. Sure enough the voice became louder.

"HICCUP", they followed the sound. "HICCUP"!

Hiccup's eyes widened, his heart dropped and all his instincts told him to panic.

Astrid was dangling from a cliff, holding on to an old root on the edge ! "HELP".

"Astrid calm down, what ever you do don't. . . ._*snap*_,

The root gave out.

"HICUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP"

Astrid was falling out of the sky !

"ASTRID", Hiccup yelled after her.

Toothless dove down to catch the falling female. He saw her 20 feet away from the ground.

"Astrid give me your hand" Hiccup called holding it out.

*8 feet*

Astrid desperately pushed her arms through the falling air to reach out for his hand.

*5 feet*

Hiccup leaned in a close as he could without falling off the dragon.

*2 feet*

The tops of his fingers were slowly coming closer to the tips of her fingernails.

*12 inches*

and then. . . .

"GOT IT"

Astrid grabbed Hiccup's hand and quickly pulled herself onto Toothless's back as the reptile flew back up to the sky and flew towards the direction of the cove.

They reached the cove and Astrid quickly jumped off, giving a sigh of relief, "I have never been so relieved to feel the ground under my feet in my life"

Hiccup nodded, "I can imagine" but his smile quickly melted, "what happened" he asked.

Astrid shook her head "I honestly don't know, one minute I was with Stormfly and the next I find myself being lunged to the side of the cliff" Astrid approached the cove pond. "Maybe a quick drink will ease my nerves".

Hiccup smiled, "yeah, almost plummeting to your death can leave you quite parched". Astrid chuckled at him and cupped her hands towards the water.

"AHHHHHHHHH" Astrid shrieked.

The girl from the night before, dark hair, icy eyes and all, smiling at her inside the water ripples.

"Astrid what's wrong" Hiccup asked approaching her, she took in heavy breaths, but when Astrid looked back all she could see was her own reflection.

Aggravated, Astrid swatted at the water, scaring any fish inside it, "Nothing !" she spat, "nothing is wrong".

Hiccup gave her a puzzled look, "but you just. . .

"don't you have some stupid flying stunt or something" she interrupted.

Hiccup backed away a few steps noticing a fine difference in her tone than before, knowing what ever he'd say next would just make her mad.

"Alright" he answered weakly, "see you later" and with that he and Toothless were off again.

* * *

Later at night, Hiccup flew to the Great Hall, hoping maybe Astrid was feeling better, then he could ask her what was bothering her, clearly _something_ was. However he wasn't so lucky, as he approached the table, he saw Astrid with a very angered look on her face.

"Okay which one you did it, come on, I know it was one of you, probably the same one who threw an ax to my head" she said accusingly.

"Look I didn't do it, if you think that" Snotlout defended.

"And how do I know that, as far as I know it could have been you".

Hiccup sat down, "what's going on".

Astrid gave him an evil glare, "I found Stormfly later today, at the beach, covered in _Dragon Nip_, and Dragon Nip doesn't grow down at the beach, it was somebody's idea of a prank"

"A prank that almost got me_ killed_"

Hiccup could see she was aggravated, he placed a hand on her shoulder and tried to calm her down "Astrid I know Snotlout and the twins like to joke around, but we're all still your friends, you know that none of us would try and sabotage your dragon, not even them".

"Oh really Hiccup, then who was it, maybe it was you"

Hiccup was shocked, "Astrid I'm the one who _caught_ you from falling"

Astrid snorted, "whatever, I'm out of here".

With that she stormed out, it was several minutes till someone broke the silence.

"Awkward" Tuffnut said, earning a punch from his sister.

* * *

As Hiccup walked home that night he became lost in thought, should he apologize to Astrid, but what was there to apologize for ? He _saved_ her from falling off a cliff, and she just get's mad at him, who does that ?

_"You deserve better"_

Hiccup turned around, "who said that ?" he whispered quietly.

Was someone following him ?

Now walking a bit faster to up the hill to his house, he tried to shake it off as just wariness of the night, it was late, he was tired, and all he wanted to do was meet his bed, he didn't want to deal with imaginary voices.

Walking to his home, up the stairs and into his bed, he pulled the covers over him, in a matter of minutes he was asleep.

* * *

Once again in dream, the image of the Berk forest formed around him. Hiccup smiled, the forest of dream seemed to bring forth a feel of _comfort_, somehow. Something about it made it seem unworldly yet appealing to the scrawny boy. But as he walked, his senses soon caught the scent of lavender, that began to grow stronger with every step he took.

_"If I touch a burning candle I can feel no pain"_

Hiccup paused, the voice sounded closer than before.

Much closer.

_In the ice or in the sun it's all the same_

Now walking ever so quietly, he followed the sound of the voice. In fact the tune almost seem to lead him where he needed to go. Like it wanted to be with him. Like it _belonged_ with him.

_"Yet I feel my heart is aching"_

_"Though it doesn't beat it's breaking"_

Hiccup gasped softly, in the middle of a clearing of trees he could see the owner of the voice. He became aghast, she was beautiful, radiant, even. Her hair was ebony black and flew gently across her face in a soft breeze, a face pale and fair, like it was made out of creamy porcelain. Her hands were crested around her heart and her eyes were closed, indicating how wrapped up she was in her song, so much she wasn't aware of his presence.

_"And the pain here that I feel"_

_"Try and tell me it's not real"_

Hiccup once again felt drowned into the song himself with the utmost sympathy for her.

_"I know that I am dead"_

_"Yet it seems that I still have a tear to shed"_

A single droplet left her eye.

Know that the song was over, Hiccup allowed himself to move forward. Walking up to the mysterious beauty he placed a hand on her shoulder.

She gasped in surprise, her body tensed up and her eyes shooted right open. Now Hiccup could see them, they were blue, crystal blue, and shining with light from the moon reflecting off them.

Afraid she'd flee again, Hiccup quickly let go of her shoulder to relax her and explain. "No, it's okay, it's okay, I don't want to hurt you, I want to help you".

The figure looked up at him and relaxed herself , immediately her soft pink lips now formed a innocent smile.

"Hello" she spoke softly.

"Hello" Hiccup repeated, looking at her bright eyes and her sweet smile, he almost had the urge to put his closer to hers but she quickly sat up. Hiccup was just about to grab her wrist, tell her not to leave, but then she took his hand, her skin was cool and soft, she tugged at his hand ever so gently, addressing for him stand up which he quickly obliged.

"You heard me sing" she stated.

Hiccup nodded, "it was beautiful. . . . but sad".

The girl nodded slowly, "much sadness has befallen me" she looked back up at him, cupping his head in her palms as though a means of comfort. "Much has befallen you as well hasn't it".

Suddenly, images of Astrid's outburst, accusations, and fits covered him mind. Her face scrunched up, lips in a cold scowl, and eyes filled with total rage, ready to kill him. Hiccup didn't like it, he shook his head to rid himself of these images and instead return to the kind and elegant face of the girl in front of him.

He nodded to her, "yeah" he said softly, "I believe so".

She gave a soft smile of sympathy, "whenever I've been hurt by someone, I try to forget it" she squeezed his hand, "do you know how I try to forget ?"

"How" Hiccup asked, becoming more and more intrigued with this person.

She smiled and looked up at the full moon, she sighed, "I've spent so long in the darkness that I've nearly forgotten how beautiful moonlight is".

Hiccup could feel her hand leave his, and slowly slip away, looking up he found her laughing, twirling gracefully and elegantly around the trees, spinning and turning ever so delicately. Her gray dress flowed with her in the breeze, like a small flame, flickering in a mesmerizing flowing fashion, or swan flying carefully to show the flow of it's feathers. She now began to dance around him, her small enticing smile never leaving his face. All the while the sweet smell of lavender grew sweeter ever minute in his senses.

Now going slower, she took hold of his hands. "Would you like to dance ?" she asked, soft and innocently.

Hiccup was just about to follow but shook his head at the last second, "I can't".

The girl giggled, her laugh was so sweet and angelic, "in a dream you can do anything you want, and be with _anyone_ you want", she said, keeping her hands curved in with his. Hiccup accepted her offer and rose from the stump, a sudden break of confidence surged through him.

"But wait, we need music" she said, and made a quick flick of her wrists.

Hiccups ears began to hear sounds. The sounds of chimes, like the ones in a music box, joined soon by the smooth sound of violins that became mixed with light sounds of flutes, he allowed his hand to take hers, and his other to fall to her waist as her other hand fell to his arm.

Almost automatically, without little thought he lead her through, drifting into the music, astonished that he didn't once step on her toes or clumsy led them into a tree, "you are a amazing dancer" he complemented.

She smiled, "it's quite easy when you have a good partner", Hiccup blushed. It felt like hours of blissful dancing until "who are you ?" he asked finally.

"If you would like to know, my name is Katherine"

"Katherine" he breathed, now looking around at his surroundings, he became worried "is this real ?" he was almost afraid to know the answer.

"Hmm" she pondered, "well no _this_ specifically isn't" she answered teasingly, "but _your_ real, and _I'm_ real ".

Hiccup's eyes brightened "you are !"

She giggled at his response, "yes indeed", Katherine twirled out of his arms and sat down to the old tree stump, she patted the other side of it, inviting him to sit with her.

Once Hiccup sat down, the beauty looked to him with sad eyes, she took her hand and began to caress his cheek, he took a breath of bliss as the continued to stroke his cheek with her soft hand.

"But our time together tonight is fleeing, your going to wake up any moment".

"But what will happen to you"? Hiccup asked, he didn't want her to leave.

"When you go to sleep, all you have to do is call for me, but before I go, will you promise me something ?"

"Yes, anything".

"Promise me you won't tell anyone about me, let's just keep this. . . . . _our little secret_".

He nodded, "I will", with that she put her head closer to his

"Until next time" she whispered. He leaned in closer as well until they were only inches from each other. Hiccup tried to steady his breathing but it wasn't working, his heart was pounding in his throat, his eyes went closed, the scent of lavender filled his senses strong and sweet.

But once he opened his eyes again, he was in his bedroom, no forest, no lavender, no Katherine, he was in his bed.

It was a few seconds before he realized how cold he was, shivering he quickly put on his fur vest. Toothless was still asleep, how odd, Toothless was usually Hiccup's wake up call. The dragon rider approached his reptile's stone slab.

"Hey bud, wanna go flying" Toothless's ears perked up, happy to be with his rider, but once he got a good smell of Hiccup, his eyes turned into slits and slowly backed away from the boy.

"Toothless, bud it's me" but it wasn't Hiccup Toothless was growling at, the dragon was looking intense _past_ Hiccup, like someone was behind or beside him. Hiccup turned around, and sure enough, the only thing behind him was the wall.

Hiccup tried to approach his dragon "Toothless there's nothing here, what are you growling at ?" But the reptile ran past Hiccup and started growling louder and more forcefully, except at no one, he was snapping at the air.

Snapping, growling, barking at completely nothing.

"Toothless there's nothing there" Hiccup urged and started to tug at Toothless's bridle.

Seeing his rider persist leaving Toothless gave one more snap at the air and went downstairs with Hiccup for breakfast.

**(What does Katherine want with Hiccup, why does she want to kill Astrid, why am I asking these questions when I already know the answers, well anyway, I hope you enjoy, believe or not, I got the entire idea of Hiccup's dream from listening to the beginning scene of the Haunted Mansion film and the Moonlight Dance scene from Corpse Bride, well anyway read and review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	4. Chapter 4: Breakfast

**(READ THIS FIRST, It's been a long time hasn't it, I have procrastinated on all my fics, if you go to my profile, you will find an apology for everyone of my readers on the lack of updates, I hope you can accept it, with that said, here's chapter 4)**

As Hiccup walked up towards the Great Hall for breakfast, Toothless began to turn back towards his regular self, happily following Hiccup in expectant for morning fish, what-ever had happened to him back there, Hiccup wasn't sure, in fact he hardly put a thought in it, his thoughts traveled mostly to Katherine.

"Katherine" he breathed, " a name so elegant, so regal, so beautiful-_she_ was beautiful", he didn't know why, but he couldn't get her out of his head, her arousing scent of lavender, her crystal blue eyes, filled with such kindness and admiration.

_"Unlike Astrid"_

Hiccup stopped walking, where'd that thought come from, as if someone just put that idea into his head without him realizing it. Toothless cocked his head at his rider in confusion at his sudden pause. But Hiccup was quick to shrug it off, he looked down to find Toothless staring at him intensely, as if almost waiting for him to say something.

"Don't worry bud I'm fine"

Toothless kept looking at him in concern.

"Really bud, I'm alright. . . . .just _tired_ is all" and continued on his way to breakfast.

* * *

_Dragon POV_

Though Hiccup's usual goofy smile gave him _some_ reassurance, something didn't feel right to the night-fury, first he woke up later than usual, they didn't even get a sunrise flight in, then when he _did_ wake up, he found his rider, but something was. . . . _off_ about him, something didn't smell right, and following was the presence of that_ thing. _He defended his territory, snapping at it to go away, right before Hiccup pulled at him to let go. What-ever it was, it wasn't good, at least not to Toothless, he'd have to talk to the others about this.

Once they had reached the Great Hall, Hiccup went inside while Toothless went towards the Feeding Station, Hiccup invented it last autumn, it was a separate part of machinery near the Great Hall used for dragons to eat, distributing fish for the reptiles. The usual gang was their, Stormfly Hookfang, Meatlug, Barf and Belch and a few other dragons.

"Hey guys" Toothless called out to them.

"Hey Tooth" Stormfly said cheerily, "over here, they got some sea-bass this morning".

"My favorite", but as the others continued gulping down the sea-life, Toothless found his appetite ruined by his train of thought, just staring down at his fish pondering over about Hiccup.

Stormfly pulled her head out of her meal and turned to see her night-fury friend had hardly touched his.

"Toothless what's wrong ?" the nadder asked worried.

"Nothing"

The others had started turning their heads up to see what the issue was.

"Your not eating" Stormfly pointed out.

Toothless shrugged, "guess I'm not all that hungry".

Stormfly eyed him suspiciously, "not hungry ?, _You_, of all dragons are not hungry ?" she replied clearly not believing his excuse.

"Well if you won't eat them I will" Hookfang volunteered, this earning him a slap from Stormfly's, (luckily not spiked out) tail.

"Ow"

"Next time I'll bring out the spines" Stormfly threatened before turning back to Toothless, "come on we're your friends, tell us what's going on".

Toothless sighed, "your going to think I sound crazy".

Stormfly laughed, "Tooth, two years ago, it'd be crazy to say that I'd one day voluntarily allow a_viking_ with an ax to ride on my back everyday-and yet here we are".

Toothless chuckled, "alright. . . .do. . do you remember that celebration a few nights back".

They nodded.

"and the. . . ._incident_ ?"

They all shuddered at the memory, during the celebration, out of nowhere, a hard pang went into their skulls, like something was _clawing_ at their brains, _rattling_ their heads around, nothing like they had ever felt.

It was scary.

"Have. . . .have any of you felt anything like that since then ?" Toothless asked worried.

"Hmmmm, well now that you mention it, the arena seemed a little _off_, yesterday" Meatlug pitched.

"Oh yeah, right after that ax hurled got at blonde" Hookfang laughed but quickly shut up once he saw Stormfly engage the spikes on her tell.

"Why do you ask ?" Stormfly said.

"I don't know why, and I don't how. . .but this morning, something. . . didn't seem right, I felt another presence in the room . . .I felt something _bad_ in the room".

"You too" Stormfly said aghast.

"Wait, you felt something wrong"

Stormfly nodded, "just yesterday morning, Astrid opened the window, but the moment I put my head in, I knew something was off, something dreadful. . ., something. . . . something _evil_".

"Well what did you do" Meatlug asked getting engrossed in her friends stories.

"Well I did what any sensible dragon would do. . . . .pulled her out against her will, and fly off".

The others rolled their eyes but quickly got back on subject once Toothless spoke again.

"Don't you see, something horrible is going on here, something BIG, we all need to keep an extra close eye around here-and for the time being-

"Would you just listen to yourself !" All reptilian eyes turned to Hookfang, "all this talk about _"evil spirits"_is nothing more than hatchling stories, it's not real !"

"I KNOW WHAT I FELT HOOKFANG" Stormfly persisted, "there's something _very_ wrong on Berk, and I'm not going to risk my rider's safety because of it" she snapped.

"Oh my poor Fishlegs" Meatlug whimpered.

"Don't worry Meatlug, we just need to keep an eye out, no harm will come to your rider" Toothless soothed.

Hookfang rolled his eyes, "well while your all worried about "_imaginary evil_" **I'm** going to stay in **reality** and enjoy my breakfast".

Unknown to Toothless or any of the other dragons, they were so busy in their conversation, that the angry boy storming out of the Hall into the woods didn't catch anyone's eye.

* * *

Hiccup entered the Great Hall, and as usual his friends were all seated eating their breakfast, and as usual he sat beside of Astrid. Once he was seated down, and Astrid noticed his presence, she became shyer and turned her head away, as if she was embarrassed to see him.

"Look Hiccup, I'm. . .I'm sorry, about yesterday really I am, I don't know what came over me last night"

Hiccup smiled, pleased she apologized. "hey don't worry about it, you had some tension, understandable you had to break out some steam".

"Steam, ha, more like a geyser" Tuffnut joked.

"Okay I don't know whether to hit you, or applaud that you actually know what a geyser is" Astrid replied.

But everyone quickly resumed to eating their breakfast, unlike most vikings, Hiccup wasn't a big meat eater, it wasn't that he didn't like it, but instead of piles of meat put on his plate, he preferred a simple bowl of porridge with maybe a little sausage mixed into it.

Things were going normally until _*flunk*_ Astrid suddenly felt a small, sticky glob hit her cheek. Letting go of her fork and placing three fingers on the wet skin, she wiped the glob off her face and into her hand, showing it as a small bit of white, sticky porridge. Her first instinct was to look over at Snotlout and the twins, but they seemed to be wrapped up in a nice little game of, "who can hit Tuffnut the hardest", and Fishlegs was watching the "game" worriedly. Astrid glanced Hiccup's way, but he wasn't paying attention to the others or her, just staring off into space, daydreaming, _humming_ to himself ? But what got Astrid's main attention was the end of his bowl slightly dripping.

_"Alright then Hiccup"_ Astrid thought, _"if that's how you want it"_. She herself had a small bowl to go with her ham and sausage, putting a little on her fork, she flinged it at Hiccup's cheek. Satisfied she hoped she made her point and continued eating.

At the corner of his eye Hiccup saw Astrid fling the porridge his way, but he quickly swallowed any anger, wiped it off with a napkin and tried to ignore what just happened, _"it's just Astrid relieving some stress"_ he thought, _"she'd been through a lot yesterday"_, and continued eating.

But then Astrid felt a hard kick to her knee, she winced slightly, not a playful kick, it felt like someone was almost trying to break it ! Turning again to Hiccup who just continued with his breakfast, as though nothing had happened.

Astrid already was short on patience and was not in the mood for this, anger rising, she looked down, luckily she was sitting on the right side of the table. Making sure her aim was at the non-metal leg, she rocked her foot back and with as much force she could muster and-

"OW !" Hiccup yelled, it was one thing to fling a little porridge, it was another to try and break a guy's only foot.

"WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM !" Astrid yelled, wanting to know his excuse for this morning.

"WHAT'S_ YOUR_ PROBLEM !" Hiccup yelled back, he didn't do anything, **she** was the one who threw the porridge, **she** was the one who tried to break his leg off and now she's asking what's **his** problem !

By this time, the yelling had caught the attention of all of the other vikings in the Great Hall, eyes staring at the two, not like either noticed.

Astrid's anger changed into surprise at Hiccup yelling. Hiccup **never** yells ! Said boy must have noticed her reaction because his features quickly turned back into their soft caring ways.

"Look Astrid, I understand your upset, but you don't have to take it out on all of us-

"NO" she yelled.

Astrid couldn't explain it, but for some reason, her anger began to boil once again, here she was having food hit her, foot kick her, and someone yelling at her, then they say they "understand", well Astrid Hofferson wasn't going to have any of that.

"NO Hiccup you DON'T understand" she continued, causing Hiccup to take a few steps back in surprise of her outburst, "so why don't you just hop on your dragon, work on some stupid contraption, or anything else completely _USELESS_."

The moment it was said everyone in the room gasped, Astrid clamped both hands on her mouth now in realization and immediate regret, watching Hiccup's eyes widen then darken.

_Useless._

That one word that held an entire child-hood of neglect, self-doubt and lack of self-worth, the one word that for 14 years was what everyone said described Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. Though he didn't show it, those memories of sadness would always cling to Hiccup, he wouldn't dwell on it, but the emotional scars of those days would forever stay with him.

The room was silent for several minutes until Astrid got the courage to break it, " Hiccup I didn't mean t-

But the chief's son just put both his hands up in front of him for silence, "You know what, just forget it, . . . Just. Don't. Bother. That's what your good at."

And with that Hiccup stormed out the Great Hall.

"HICCUP WAIT" Astrid cried out, but the boy shut the large wooden doors behind him. Astrid sunk back down into her seat, head down in her hands.

"What have I done"?

Unknown to all of them a unseen figure smiled at her work, and like a soft breeze in the wind she whispered-

"_What have you've done indeed_"

**(Well it seems that Katherine's presence hasn't gone unnoticed by the dragons, and that she isn't limiting her mischief to dreams and killing ****attempts, now that she has Hiccup mad at Astrid, what does she plan next, next chapter should be out by the end of the week at latest with that said Read and Review and this is Moonlight Snowflake Signing Off)**


	5. Chapter 5: Down At The Cove

**(Hellooo people, I said this would be out by the end of the week, it's Sunday sooooo, does that count ? It is the day of rest, which is supposedly the last day of the week, sooooo I'm going to count it)**

**(READ THIS PART, now the song that inspired me to write this, some lines of it will be in this chap. so you might want to listen to it before you read, I think it'll bring more suspense when it comes up, it's called "Secrets" by The Pierces, with that said, on with the story)**

Hiccup ran as fast as his legs could carry him, ignited with anger, all he wanted was get out of that building and as far away from Astrid as possible. How could she just humiliate him like that, treat him as if everything he had done for the tribe didn't matter, ending the war, defeating the Red Death, and all she can do is just describe how useless he is ? Even the things she describe, they weren't useless. Sure his inventions were a work in progress but they are always for the good of the village, flying Toothless wasn't useless, what if they were in a attack and needed air patrol, a boy who couldn't fly his dragon, _that_ would be useless.

Blinded by his conflagration of rage, Hiccup didn't even know where he was going, or became concerned of the fact that ,though he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings, he never once hit a tree or bush, in fact it almost seemed like his legs had some sort of mind of there own, leading him to where ever they wished to go in the thick brush of land. Until his body stopped at the cove, by the water spring, and his mind still veiled in animosity.

"I'm not USELESS", Hiccup yelled, swatting at the water, making it billow and ripple into furrows of jagged lines, but once the water gained focus and cleared, Hiccup gasped.

Once his reflection could be seen, for a split two seconds, before turning into a look of shock, Hiccup didn't look like himself.

His features scrunched together, eyes darkened, beady and pouring out hate and a chilling, belittling scowl shaped his lips. For a split two seconds, Hiccup became afraid of _himself_, where did all that hate come from. Was he angry, of course he was, but he didn't_ hate_ Astrid, though he was deeply hurt, he felt betrayed mostly.

"Do you want to talk about it ?" the scent of lavender drowned into the cove by the sound of that sweet and loving voice.

Hiccup turned around for the dark haired beauty. Her icy blue eyes filled with nothing but compassion and concern for him. He was at first, utterly grateful to have a sympathetic soul joining him, but soon became happily amazed and stunned.

"Katherine ?, how. . . .how are you here ?"

She gave a lighthearted laugh, a laugh that could make him feel like he was floating on air. "I thought you could use a friend", she placed her hand on his, "a _real_ friend".

Hiccup suddenly became wary, "you know ?" he asked shyly, embarrassed to know she saw such a display.

Katherine nodded sadly, "yeah,. . . . it was wrong the way she treated you, _I_ would never had done that".

She cupped his head in her hand, he breathed at the touch, cool and blissful. Katherine whispered in his ear, making him shiver, "luckily I know how to make it better".

The tips of her fingers began to glow a light blue, same shade as her eyes, taking one hand to hold up his chin so that he would look her in the eye, and taking the other hand and began caressing his cheek, gliding her hand up and down, down his collar bone and up his hair. He sighed at the touch.

"Kather-"

"Shh" she stopped him, "look at me, just look at my eyes" Hiccup looked up, her eyes. They changed. They seemed to now have a soft glow to their usual blue shade, they were _mesmerizing_, Hiccup began to notice that he couldn't look away, he didn't want to, just allowing himself to becoming drowned in the bright pools of blue bliss that they were.

"It's alright. . . . . just _forget_ about everything else. Just let yourself _go_".

He was hanging on her every word, everything else seemed to slip away, the cove, the forest, all gone, all there was, was Katherine, her peaceful scent of lavender and her entrancing eyes.

"Just give in my dear ".

Her voice made everything light, his head felt fuzzy. He enjoyed it, all independent thoughts began to leave him, he liked it, he like not having to think or worry, he didn't want to, he wanted her to have the control.

She _had_ all the control.

"Your getting sleepier aren't you ?" she spoke softly, using her other hand, she nodded his head slightly as he murmured in agreement at whatever she said.

Hiccup began to feel drowsy, every time he blinked, it was becoming harder and harder to keep his eyes open, but he pushed himself too, she told him to look in her eyes, he would obey, he wanted to obey, he belonged to her.

"There, there, my dear, just keep your eyes open a little longer, it won't be long now" she whispered. "you want to keep looking right ?", again she made his head nod in her agreement. Katherine tickled his cheek with her fingers, up to his hair, softly stroking individual locks of it.

She looked at his eyes, they looked dull and faded, his whole face had formed a dazed grin, he was unaware of what was happening, all he knew was to follow what ever she asked of him.

Katherine's grin grew, it was working, he was her's.

Katherine looked at the hazed boy, "you will close your eyes for me now my dear". He obeyed allowing his green eyes to flutter shut, she went to his ear, and whispered.

"Listen to my voice, there is _only_ my voice", the hypnotized Hiccup smiled more, happy to hear his mistress's wonderful words. She started to hum to him, while she stroked his auburn hair.

"_Why do you smile like you've been told a secret, now your telling lies cause you've been told to keep it",_

This song, soft and soothing as the last one, but not sad like the other. No, not sad, something else.

Mystifying.

_But no one keeps a secret, no one keeps a secret_".

Hiccup's head began to nod his head into her song, her fingers now tugging slightly harder at his hair.

"_Why when we do our darkest deeds do we tell, they burn in our brains, become a living hell , but everybody tells, everybody tells_"

"HICCUP !"

Katherine turned her head to find Astrid running towards them, needing to act fast, Katherine closed her eyes in concentration and her whole palm of her hand started to glow bright blue, she quickly pushed her glowing hand on Hiccup's forehead, and materialized away, making a unconscious Hiccup's head fall into the water spring.

Astrid ran to Hiccup's side and tugged his head out of the water, his eyes were closed, his body so pale you could see his veins, and he wasn't moving. She was in a frantic.

"HICCUP, HICCUP WAKE UP, WAKE UP" she cried.

She pumped her hands on his chest, making small portions of water come out through his mouth, then quickly placing her head on his chest, she listened.

In those few moments, everything was silent, Astrid closed her eyes, begging, hoping, and praying to every single god an goddess she could name at the top of her head in her mind, just for any sound of a heart beat.

After a few minutes, a faint, soft, bumping sound found Astrid's ear drums.

The blonde gasped, taking her head from his chest and wrapping her arms across the thin figure, tears of joy escaping her eyes.

Once she relieved herself of her out-bursts of emotions, Astrid placed Hiccup's head on her lap and cradled it. Stroking his cheek, she just now realized how cold his skin was, he felt like he just left the glaciers, he was that cold !

Placing him softly on the grass, Astrid cupped her hands around her mouth and did a nadder call. In just a few moments, the sound of Stormfly's bird-like wings filled the cove and the reptile landed by her owner. Astrid pointed to Hiccup to Stormfly's tail, to her back, the dragon understood the hand-signals her rider taught her, and used her tail, (at the moment had not engaged the spines) and curled it around Hiccup like a snake.

"Stormfly, gently !" Astrid warned, the nadder nodded, carfully putting him on her back. Stormfly then bowed her head to Astrid herself to board her.

"Come on Stormfly, we need to find the chief".

* * *

The rest of the gang were flying towards the arena for their daily dragon training, "hey uh because Hiccup exploded at breakfast, does that mean we get the day off ?" Tuffnut asked riding Belch.

"Hey !" Snotlout interjected, "since when does Hiccup get to decide what we do ?"

"Well, he's the founder of the dragon training academy" Fishlegs commented, "first viking to every ride a dragon, the chief's son. . . . . Fishlegs droned on.

"I get, I get it, okay" Snotlout scoffed, "sure he's _that_, but did_ he_ train a Monstrous Nightmare" Snotlout bragged, hitting the top of Hookfang's head, making the reptile, make his head ablaze on his 'owner'.

"AHHH, HOT HOT HOT", Snotlout screeched landing at the arena and quickly placing himself in a nearby bin of water to put the fire out.

"No, but it doesn't look like _you_ did either" Fishlegs announced.

"Oh shut up Fish brains".

"HELP, I NEED HELP".

The gang all turned their heads up at the sky to the sound of pleas, it was Astrid riding Stormfly and heading towards the village.

"Should we go help ?" Ruffnut asked.

"I don't know, remember what happened this morning, dude, that was cold" Tuffnut added.

"I'm not sure guys, I think we better check it out" Fishlegs objected, boarding back on Meatlug, "c'mon, we better hurry".

"Hey WAIT, since when do _you_ tell us what to do" Snotlout defended, but he was easily ignored as the twins ran to their zippleback.

"Well FINE' I'm coming too. . . .but not because of what_ you_ said, because_ I_ want to" he smirked, getting on Hookfang and following the gang towards the village.

Once they reached the village, Stormfly had already landed and vikings were circling her, Stoick could be seen quickly pushing away anyone in his path with Gobber trailing behind him to see what the commotion was about. But once the chief reached the center of the circled group of vikings his eyes widened and he gasped, surprised and worried.

"HICCUP" he yelled, taking his son off the dragon, he was pale white of skin and cold to the touch, his son didn't finch or make a sound to his father suddenly taking him off the reptile's back and into his arms. Stoick looked worried and afraid for his son, but the chief's green eyes soon darted to the blonde owner of the nadder.

"What. Happened." Stoick demanded through gritted teeth.

"He's okay, his heart beat's faint but it's there. . ."she started

"I said WHAT. HAPPENED."

Astrid froze, what was she to say, some freaky ghost girl did it ? Oh yeah, that'd end well, she'd be strapped to the end of a boat and be sent off to the edge of the world for going mad, but at the moment, the chief looked ready to kill her anyway, and she couldn't blame him. First she insults his son, then less than an hour later, comes screaming at the top of her lungs with his son looking like the dead.

"I. . . I. . . um. . _found_ him this way, his head was in the spring in the cove, I was able to get the water out of his system, and I heard a heart beat, I came back here to get you that _very _minute".

Stoick eyed her suspiciously, "chief, I _swear_, I had _nothing_ to do with this, you know I'd never intentionally hurt Hiccup" she pleaded, her blue eyes begging for mercy.

The chief nodded, he was mad, but he knew she was telling the truth about not wanting to hurt him, besides his main focus was on his, (practically lifeless) son. Gothi quickly approached the small group in the center with a large pouch of herbs in one hand, and staff in the other, any villager quickly stepped out of her way so she could work.

The elder put her hand onto Hiccup's forehead, but quickly drawed back, clearly surprised by how cold his skin was and began a quick observation on his pale body, her eyes widened and looked Astrid's way suspiciously.

The old woman took her staff and started scribbling in the dirt, everyone taking a few steps back to give her space to write, except for Gobber, so he could read it.

"She says he must have fell into the water and that the lack of oxygen caused him to loose consciousness" Gobber translated, Gothi took out a small bag out of the pouch and scribbled again.

"These herbs must be brewed into a tea and half a mug of it given to him every hour for four hours", she kept scribbling, "he'll be fine, and should wake up in three days at latest, until then, everyone is to go off their daily lives".

"Alright, you heard her, continue with your daily chores" Gobber announced.

Not wanting to offend the great, and mysterious healer, the other villagers reluctantly backed away to continue what they were doing before Astrid's cries. Astrid herself, knowing her mother wanted her to help with the laundry today, took one last look at Hiccup and began to take her leave, until she felt a meaty arm pull at her.

"One more thing" Gobber said, looking down at Gothi's scribbles, "Gothi wants to speak with you when you get a chance later today", Astrid, turned her head confused at the healer, who nodded solemnly right before and taking her leave.

**(Hmm, does Gothi know something about Katherine ? Now originally, there was going to be A LOT more in this chapter, but I try to keep them at less than 3,000 words each, but luckily for you people, next one should be out Tuesday or sooner, and that blue glow Katherine has WILL BE EXPLAINED, with that said Read and Review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	6. Chapter 6: Do You Love Her

**(I said this would be out yesterday, but yesterday, news began to spread of someone very wonderful died, Robin Williams, I didn't know him personally, but growing up, a large quantity of my movies featured the actor, his work was a part of my child-hood. May you make the angles above laugh at your comedic antics Robin Williams R.I.P)**

**(With that said, hope you enjoy)**

Hiccup suddenly found himself in a pleasantly familiar setting, the dark night sky with a full moon glowing brightly, giving silvery beams of light to the dark green forest floor, the trees, all their limps curled into swirl like shapes, the wild flowers all had a blue glow to them, bending down, he could feel soft grass between his fingers, the essence of pine in the air.

At least there _was_, until it was blanketed by the lovely incense of lavender the scrawny viking had become so fond of. Hiccup closed his eyes in the sheer bliss of Katherine's presence coming closer. From behind him, she appeared, taking his hands in hers, how he loved the cool and refreshing feel of her hands, but she quickly released her hands from his, and instead began allowing them to trail up his arms rubbing them slightly until reaching to his shoulders. Cupping her hands to them, she began to rub his shoulders carefully and softly, relieving him of any stress left in his body.

Hiccup moaned at the touch as she massaged, this was just what he needed, some nice relief from. . . . from ?

Hiccup just realized, he had completely forgotten what he was upset about. . . .something about that _blonde _girl . . . . what was her name. . . . annie? aria ?

But as Katherine had her arms trail towards his neck, relieving a knot that seemed to have been made, no doubt product of late nights bowing his head down at a desk covered in sketches and notes, suddenly that other girl didn't really seem that important, what was important was Katherine.

Right ?

Who had been there for him ?

Katherine.

Who was the understanding light in the dark void of hate ?

Katherine.

Who did nothing but care, admire and pamper him ?

_Katherine._

Yes Katherine, now with his clear answer, Hiccup just allowed himself to get lost in the pleasure she provided. The dark haired beauty pushed him gently down to the grass, he quickly obliged, allowing himself to sit down on the soft patch of green as Katherine worked her charms. Leaning towards his ear she whispered.

"Is that any better my dear ?" she asked sweetly, though she already knew the answer.

Hiccup moaned again and mumbled a low "yes" for her.

Her smile grew, this was it, this was her chance, it was the perfect timing, Katherine released her hands from his skin and glided herself to be in front of him, she put three fingers under the boy's chin, lifting it up, Katherine smile brightened more once seeing how hazed and submissive he still was to her. Katherine couldn't help but chuckle to herself at her accomplishment. At how in such a short time she had taken this free-spirited boy with a huge crush on shield-maiden and turned him into her obedient little love who probably couldn't even remember blondie's name.

And this was going to be the icing on the cake.

"Good, this makes the moment all the more special"

Katherine leaned in closer, allowing Hiccup to once again become lost in her blue orbs.

Coming closer and closer.

Only centimeters away now, her smile grew wider.

Though only seconds, for both it felt like hours until finally Katherine closed the space between them, taking his lips to her's. Hiccup's eyes shooted out, no longer dim and unaware, but now shocked and alert at what was happening.

In just a few moments, Katherine let go, Hiccup felt frozen in place.

Putting one finger to his lips, he became confused. The kiss felt cold and dead, no love or passion filled it, this concerned Hiccup.

Looking at Katherine she should be the perfect person, but the more he thought about it, there wasn't much he even knew about her, or even talked to her before, about likes, dislikes, options and that kiss. . .that kiss. It was hollow and empty, nothing about it felt. . . . ._real_.

To Hiccup, a kiss should be warm and caring, filled with _love_, that's what a kiss is for, a way of expressing your love for someone, your admiration for that person, somebody who you accept and accepts you for both good's and bad's, a kiss with someone. . . . someone. . . . . someone like. . . . .like _Astrid_.

With his senses now returning to him, the teen suddenly felt like a complete idiot, how could he forget _Astrid's_ name, of all people ?

Hiccup shook his head trying to clear all the cloudiness from it, how'd it get that way anyway ? In fact the more he thought about it how'd he even get here. He didn't recall ever going to sleep, actually the more he tried to remember, the more foggy and blurry his memory was.

Katherine looked at Hiccup, his eyes no longer hazy, but once again their original, bright green, filled curiousness and wonder, now deep in thought about his situation. She bit her lower lip in nervousness, "Hiccup, Hiccup ?" she asked, shaking his shoulders. The scrawny viking boy faced her, now realizing he hadn't spoke in several minutes now.

"Katherine how. . . . .how did I get here anyway ?"

The said girl blinked, that was a legit question, that meant he was waking up!

Katherine, now with worry and fear, instead plastered a sweet, innocent smile over it. "oh you just fell asleep" she answered nonchalantly, waving her hand in indifference. But Hiccup now, was not easily led astray.

"When ?. . . all I can remember was leaving the hall after breakfast. . . . oh my dad is probably worried about me".

Hiccup was about to get up back on his feet, just as Katherine quickly pushed him back down.

"Now, now, no need to worry, just_ relax_" she breathed, trying to put him back in her trance, "nothing is wrong".

The smell of lavender became stronger but at this point, the once blissful scent has become too strong and forcible for Hiccup's liking, making him turn his head away from Katherine to clear his senses. He sat up again, and quickly pushed her hands away from his.

"Katherine I'm sorry but I have to go" he urged, "I've been gone too long, besides I need to talk to Astrid".

"Astrid ?" Katherine shrieked, "why do you need to talk to _her_" she hissed on the last word.

"I feel like. . . .like I owe her a apology" Hiccup stuttered, though he really didn't remember what their fight was about, something told him that he needed to go back and sort it out, that maybe Astrid had something she needed to say as well, but he just couldn't let it go and started walking off.

"WAIT Hiccup !"

Katherine ran in front of him, blocking his way, she _had_ to keep him there with _her_ "what's there to apologize for ?" Katherine started to stutter, "you don't need her, why bother with her, you have me. . . you. . . you have _me_. she. . . .she doesn't even _deserve_ you. . . . you have ME. . YOU HAVE

"KATHERINE" Hiccup yelled, placing his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her down, the girl had started chocking sobs, losing control, he could see desperation taking to her. In fact it was, she needed him to stay, why would he want Astrid, she was ten times better than Astrid, he didn't need Astrid, he had **_her_**.

Katherine suddenly realized how out of control and desperate she had turned, but it quickly faded to envy, her eyes now becoming darker with anger as she clenched her fists, she looked up at Hiccup, "do you love her ?" she asked bluntly.

Hiccup gulped, taking his hands off her shoulders, "what ?" he asked, shocked at the question.

"I said Do. You. LOVE. Her." she asked twice, emphasizing her words with much more hostility in her tone.

"Katherine I. . . . "

"ANSWER THE QUESTION".

Hiccup took a step back, surprised at how her soft sweetness turned so aggressive and hate filling. But what she asked him. . .well. . . it was a. . ._confusing_ question, one that he much rather not try and answer.

"I _care_ about her" Hiccup stated, not sure what else he could have said. Was he denying his feelings ? He wasn't sure, just thinking about made his head hurt.

Katherine nodded, "in a way you never will for me" she announced flatly.

"Now Katherine please listen. . . ." but the spirit put her hand up for silence, and she smiled, "it's okay Hiccup, I'm not angry".

"You. . . your _not_ ?" Hiccup asked, pleasantly surprised.

"No of course not, besides. . . . " her grin widened, "_it's not like you can leave_".

The viking teen's eyes widened, he turned his head, looking around his surroundings, his once gentle solitude, started to look much wicked and vicious to him, now realizing he didn't exactly know how to get out of here.

"Katherine, let me go" he demanded.

The enchantress laughed, the sound that was once light and delicate, felt dark and twisted in Hiccup's ear drums, mocking him crudely.

"I'm afraid I can't do that" she answered cheerily, "you can try if you want though" her hand started glow once again a bright blue, "good luck", and with that she snapped her glowing fingers, and like that, was gone. Leaving Hiccup a prisoner of his own mind.

**(Sorry if it seemed short, but like I said, there will be another one later today, so now that the trance is broken, what will Katherine do next ? Only one way to find out, read and review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	7. Chapter 7: Gothi

**(What else is there to say but, ENJOY, AND DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW)**

Katherine snapped her fingers and left Hiccup's subconscious , now traveling towards the Hofferson house, jealousy running through her veins. . . . . .well if she still had veins of course. But it didn't matter, she would not lose again to a perfect, precious, blonde tramp.

This time, she would win.

This time, she would get what she deserved.

This time, justice would be shown,

"What's so great about 'little miss living' anyway" she muttered, though knowing no one could hear her, at the moment no one could see her either, as she allowed herself to sit on the roof shingles of the Hofferson house, waiting for the said blonde floozy to go out that door, she knew she would. Katherine had to give her credit, Astrid was persistent, she wouldn't stay away from Hiccup for long.

The sound of growling alerted Katherine as she quickly turned around to find a blue and yellow nadder peering at her with pitch black eyes. She smiled, Katherine knew behind the reptile's growling, the beast was intimidated by her. The ghost clenched out her own teeth and growled right back at Stormfly, making her whimper back into her stable. Katherine smirked at the aura of dominance and power she had over the beasts, they feared her, and she loved it.

As on cue the wooden door creaked open, revealing Astrid walking out of the house, closing the door behind her, unknowing of the dark spirit lurking down on her with a cold vista. Katherine smiled, she recognized the trail Astrid was taking, as predicted she was rushing towards the Haddock house-hold.

Following her, but making sure to keep a distance, knowing being too close would send shivers down the mortal's spine and make her heedful of the spirit's presence, and soon enough, the chief's home came in sight, as Astrid went in, Katherine floated up to Hiccup's window and passed through. Hiccup was still unconscious and Astrid's footsteps could be heard going up the stairs, Katherine put herself in the corner of the room and waited for the show to start.

* * *

Astrid could hardly think straight on what she was doing, her mind was on Hiccup and, (she clenched her teeth), _her_. The little witch that tried to kill her, and _him_ ! If Astrid could, she _would_ have strangled her for what she did. "_No, stay focused, stay focused"_ she thought, if she ever was going to get out of this house she needed to finish the laundry.

_"Stay focused, stay focused"_ she repeated in her head.

"Oh for goodness sake girl, would you just go !" Astrid turned around to the sound of her mother, hands on her hip, walking towards her, "before you start ripping the clothes as well".

The teen viking looked down to see the blanket in her hands crumpled, wrinkled, and mushed into a tight ball of fabric, quickly releasing the victim from her firm grasp and putting her hands behind her back. "Sorry. . . I just have a lot on my mind and. . . . .

"That Haddock boy" her mother confirmed, rising an eyebrow.

"Yeah" her daughter answered quietly, already feeling the heat rising to her cheeks, creating a red tone for them.

The woman sighed, taking a few stray hairs on her daughter's head, and tucking them behind her ear lovingly, "you better go then".

Astrid's eyes widened. "really !"

"Well you're clearly not going to be any use to me here so you might as well" she answered bluntly, seeing Astrid's smile widen, "now go before I change my mind".

Astrid opened the door and walked out, then began her sprint towards the chief's house. Being one of the fastest runners in her age-group, it didn't take long for her to arrive. Knocking on the door, and soon opened to the large and stout viking known as Stoick the Vast. The chief smiled at her, "I was wondering how long it'd take you".

Astrid gave a small smile and entered the house, "any change" she asked though she already knew the answer.

"None so far, but you're more than welcomed to visit, he's upstairs".

Astrid nodded, running up the stairs to her comatose friend.

* * *

Entering the room, there laid Hiccup, still unconscious, breathing softly on the bed. Astrid approached him, his skin tone had started to return to color, he still looked pale and weak, but not as bad as he did when she rescued him. Toothless was asleep on his burned stone bed, Astrid gave a small smile at the reptile, probably exhausted from worry over his rider, the bond between the two would amaze her, she wasn't sure if even she and Stormfly had such a friendship.

Astrid bended her knees down by Hiccup's bedside. Placing her hand on his fore-head and soothing his overgrown hair out of his eyes, taking a few strands and stroking them, feeling the soft bits of hair on her finger tips. He mumbled incoherent words in his sleep due to her touch. Astrid quickly backed away, hoping that he had awoken, but after a few minutes of no other reflex, sound, or movement, Astrid placed herself right beside him again.

She observed how weak he looked, how small and helpless he seemed, how could someone as innocent and gentle as Hiccup have something as horribly cruel and terrible happen to him. Guilt started to fill Astrid's heart, this ghost girl wanted to kill her, and now, she somehow roped Hiccup into her problem, now look at him.

"I'm sorry" she whispered, that was all she could say, "I'm sorry".

Her heart felt like it was beating a hundred times a second, a mix of emotions stirring in her, pounding at her brain, so much she didn't know how she was supposed to feel. Confusion, fear, sadness, anger, guilt. . . . ._love_.

Grabbing his hand, she already felt the tears about to escape her eyes, she just needed to let it out, she just needed to finally break, if Hiccup was awake he would let her, he wouldn't judge her for crying, he would try and comfort her anyway he knew how, this just making her chest hurt more and more tears to escape.

"I'm sorry" she choked, "I am so sorry Hiccup" trying to hold back was futile, the water already dripping down her cheek as she tried to remain calm enough to form words.

"If it wasn't for me you wouldn't be in this mess, I just hope when you wake up, you can find someway to possible forgive me".

It stayed like that for a while, though it was probably a few minutes, every second felt like an hour to Astrid, placing her head on Hiccup's chest as she just allowed the tears to fall, until her regret filled lament was suddenly broken by the feeling of a large snout nudging her elbow.

The blonde turned around to find Toothless looking at her with big green eyes of concern for her. She looked up at him, her eyes red and wet from crying. Seeing this, Toothless pulled at the corner of an extra blanket placed on Hiccup, and dropped it on her arm. She smiled at him, taking the fabric to wipe the last bit of liquid from her eyes and scratched his chin softly.

Once she calmed down, she looked again at Hiccup, he looked so peaceful, he was so kind, gentle and considerate. Astrid placed her hand on his chilled cheek, leaning her head down to him, catching the scent of pine mixed with charcoal from time in the forge and flying with Toothless in the woods.

For one of the few times in her life, Astrid felt nervous on what she was about to do, she felt scared, usually everything came easy to her. . . . .but _this_.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, and leaned ever so carefully closer towards his head, her stray strands of hair falling softly on his face, with only inches away, with every breath Hiccup took made the time feel endless, she finally closed the gap, pressing her lips to his.

It felt soft, the chill on Hiccup's lips melted away into warmth by Astrid. Time felt as though it stopped, just leaving the two in bliss.

Suddenly Hiccup reacted to it, kissing her back, if felt so natural, like instinct , the kiss was soft and caring and full of love.

Astrid gave a small moan of delight at his reaction. Until her eyes popped open, _he reacted_ ! He was awake ! As much as she hated to, Astrid parted her head away and broke the kiss, to see if it was true.

Indeed it was, Hiccup's eyes slowly fluttered opened, allowing Astrid to see his bright emerald orbs. "Ast. . . . Astrid ?" he mumbled.

The said blonde nodded, taking his hand in hers, "yes, I'm right here" she reassured, "how do you feel" ?

"M'tired" he mumbled, Astrid nodded, he just now had gained consciousness.

But the sudden feel of a wet tongue and a black dragon hoping on his bed probably didn't help much as Toothless showed his happiness a little too well.

Hiccup chuckled weakly, "alright Toothless, I'm fine, I'm fine, you can get off now".

The dragon obliged, allowing Hiccup to turn left and right, observing his surrounding, he recognized it as his room. "How did I get here ?"

"We took you home after. . . . . . " Astrid just realized, she had no idea how she was going to explain this to him.

"Uh, Hiccup, what do you remember ?"

Hiccup was still drowsy and exhausted from before, he couldn't think straight. "I remember running into the woods, a blur, the feeling of water, and then it all went black".

Astrid nodded, "I found you in the water spring in the cove, Gothi says you lost consciousness due to lack of any air".

The still drowsy Hiccup nodded at this, making Astrid smile, "are you hungry, do you want anything to eat".

He shook his head, "no, just tired. . . . .is it okay if I go back to sleep".

Astrid chuckled, "as long as you promise to wake up this time".

The viking boy gave a weak laugh and laid back down on his bed, allowing his eyes to close again. For the next few minutes, both Astrid and Toothless watched him sleep. His breathing had become more even, most of his color had already returned to him, and when Astrid gently replaced a few hairs that still wanted to stay in his eyes, she felt his skin had became a more normal feeling temperature.

"I just wish I knew how this happened, _why_ this happened to you" Astrid whispered, saying this suddenly made her think back to what Gobber said.

_"Gothi want's to speak with you when you get a chance later today"_

"Gothi of course !" Astrid announced, "if anyone can help me, she can". Toothless nodded in approval, though he had no idea what he was approving, it must be something good right ?

Astrid turned to Toothless. "Toothless I know you need to watch Hiccup, but I think I can find out who's behind this, and I might need your help ".

Toothless snorted, as if to say, _"of course, what kind of dragon do you think I am, let's burn the witch"_.

Astrid nodded a "good" and made her way to the door, "let's go, _**I** **have answers to find**_".

* * *

Astrid walked down the stairs with Toothless, no sign of Stoick, who must of had to return to his chiefly duties, she and Toothless exited the Haddock house and made their way to Gothi's, the elder's house was built on the top of a high sea stack, the only way to reach her was either by boat and climb the 35 feet latter that reached her, or by dragon, which was much easier.

Once Toothless landed, Astrid made her way to the door, and knocked on the wood, she waited there for several minutes, and was just about to go until she heard the door creak carefully. Gothi had opened the door only a crack, turning her head left and right, facing Astrid, she waved her hand at her to come in quickly.

Once both Astrid and Toothless were in, she shut the door, locked it, looking around, Astrid noticed that her windows were boarded up as well, the only light was from a large candle burning in the corner of the room. Gothi turned to look at her, in a low, raspy voice she whispered, "were you followed"?

Astrid almost fell over in shock, if Toothless hadn't caught her, "you. . . . you talked !"

Gothi nodded and asked again, "were you followed, did you see her, did you feel a chill or presence ?" she urged, and Astrid saw something she never thought she would ever see in the healer. . . . . . _fear_.

"No. . . .at least I don't _think_ so"

Gothi nodded and started walking towards and old chest by the boarded up window, "I haven't slept well in days, ever since your birthday, I knew something was wrong".

"What, how would you know" Astrid asked.

But the woman continued going through the chest, "of course I've had my guard up for a long while now, but now that it's actually happened, and I know she's not stepping down. . . . "

"Who. . . who's_ she_ Gothi ?" Astrid was completely confused.

The elder looked up from her rummaging to face Astrid, "near death experiences, little sleep, chills, strange happenings ?" she listed.

Astrid nodded, "ye. . .yes"

"And all centered around, _this girl_" Gothi took out a scroll, unrolling it as small piece of parchment, but not just parchment, it was a portrait. A portrait of a young girl with dark hair and icy blue eyes, wearing a long gray dress, a gold locket and a smile that tingled at Astrid's spine.

"Yes !" Astrid said aghast, "but. . . . but why do you have this, do you know who she is ?"

Gothi sighed, "I have stayed silent for so long, but this is something you need to know", Gothi pulled out two chairs, she sat in one and gestured Astrid to the other.

"It's time I tell my tale, this girl right here" she said, pointing to the picture Astrid still had in her hands, "is my _sister_ Katherine".

**(Well that's twist, hmmm, I wonder what happened between those two, and what Astrid has to do with it and why Katherine talked about "lose again". . . . oh wait, no I'm not, because I already know what's happening, but _you_ don't, hope you don't think this chapter was weak, with that said, Read and Review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	8. Chapter 8: Tale As Old As Time

**(Hello people, it's been a while, and that's because, my family decided to take me on a surprise, week vacation, so I haven't had much time for updates, in fact I've been up since 1:00 this morning to finish this, so I apologize if it may seem wonky at times, with that said, hope you enjoy, next one should be up by the end of the week)**

Katherine didn't stay long, after Astrid had kissed Hiccup, she couldn't take it, she left the pair and materialized to the forest, it was her favorite place to be when she was alive and it still was now. A place to think, a place to grieve, a place to be alone. Katherine sighed, she really was taking a liking to Hiccup, he was so kind, so sweet, so charming.

So like Hamish.

Slumped down on a tree stump "maybe he does belong with her "little miss living"" she mocked, "with her rosy cheeks" Katherine looked down, "and beating heart".

The lonely soul started to hum a soft tune to herself, stroking her own wispy hair, it was cold. Looking back at her own hand, seeing how transparent and lucent it looked. Katherine turned her attention to a small pebble resting on the forest floor, concentrating, she placed her hand on the stone, picking it up in her palm. But once she opened and relax her hand, the stone went right through her skin, falling back onto the ground. Katherine turned her face away, sad and ashamed.

This is what she was, cold, bitter, spiteful and heartless, incapable of feeling anything, that was what they thought of her. That was all she was to them.

A monster.

Unseen tears were ready to escape her eyes as she repeated the word through in her head. A _monster_, she thought in her mind, _a monster._

_A monster ?_

In new realization, her sad frown suddenly molded into a scowl, her weak and pitiful eyes, eclipsed themselves with hate and vengeance and her hands tightened into fists.

"Their blind", she spat. "They don't know of the wretchedness I went through, what happened to me" her scowl shifted into a baneful smile as the wheels in Katherine's vengeful head began turning , "but that won't matter for long", it was clear things would never be the same as Katherine's plan began to mold itself.

* * *

"You. . . . .your sister ?" Astrid screeched, still trying to wrap her head around what she had just been told.

Gothi nodded, "older sister, but only by a year" she looked down at the picture, "she's quite beautiful isn't she ?"

"Very" Astrid mumbled, and though she hated to admit it, past the chill in her eyes, Katherine was quite a rose, milky skin, delicate features. Though that still didn't excuse the problems she started.

Gothi nodded, "I don't know exactly _why_ she's after you, but I'm definitely sure _how_".

Astrid shook her head, "I don't understand, "

Gothi sighed, "you may not believe this, but Katherine was once a very warm and kind person".

The viking teen couldn't help but chuckle, "really ?" she said in disbelief, "her ?" Gothi looked up at Astrid, and she quickly stopped, remembering who she was talking to.

Her _*gulp*_ sister.

Astrid cleared her throat, "sorry, _*hmpth*_ what happened to her ?"

"Well at first" Gothi did a small chuckle, "you could say she lived a girl's dream come true. Gothi looked lovingly at the portrait, she had beauty, grace, she could have almost any man she wanted, and on her 15th birthday she. . . ."

Gothi cleared her throat, "well she. . .you must understand, times were a bit different back then" the elder began to shift uncomfortably "a girl could be engaged at a very young age, today that's rare, but back then it was very common" she tried to explan.

Astrid nodded in understanding as the elder continued.

"On her 15th birthday, she was proposed to."

Astrid's eyes widened, "15 !, she was promised AT 15, that's MY AGE, who proposed to her ?"

"Well that solves why she's after Hiccup as well" Gothi said, putting the picture on the table "she was proposed to by Hamish the Second, heir to Berk at the time."

"Hamish the Second ?" Astrid questioned, "according to Fishlegs he was our richest leader".

Gothi smiled, "yes he was a smart lad, _cunning,_ knew how to be a great leader, he and Hiccup are very much alike."

"Well what happened to break the marriage ?"

* * *

_Flash Back_

Inside the Great Hall, people were celebrating, laughing, singing, dancing, drinking their fill in mead, it was Katherine's birthday, one of the most wanted of young women her age. Most were in a circle dance, where the men would twirl, spin, and dip their partner with only minutes before the circle would continue, passing a person to person in formation. The birthday girl could be seen outside the circle along with a few stray dancing pairs not part of the circle. Her hand cupped on the shoulder of Hamish the Second, his warm green eyes meeting her sparkling blue.

She and Hamish had been courting for several months now, bringing envy to their fellow teens, but really, who could blame them. The most wanted girl on the island, now with the heir to the tribe. Many other boys her age didn't know what she saw in him, Hamish was really more of a hiccup **(see what I did there)**, scrawny and small, but Katherine didn't mind, that wasn't what she was looking for. Hamish was clever, always thinking up new ideas, he was also faithful, never in a million years did she ever think he would astray from her.

It also helped that he happened to be a nimble dancer. Katherine laughed in joy as her partner twirled and dipped her down and pulled her back up, until her eye caught another young lady sitting by the corner, her younger sister, though one could hardly tell, they didn't look anything alike, except for the blue eyes.

Excusing herself from her partner, Katherine walked across the hall, disregarding any other young man that came her way to approach her sister, her red hair so light it looked blonde in the candle light of the Great Hall, ignoring the festivities and lounging on the side of the wall, observing the dancers around her.

"For one sister to do nothing but sit in indifference towards the other's birthday party, might give the public a wrong impression, don't you think" Katherine teased.

Her sister turned to her with a simple frown, that quickly melted into a fellow smile.

"Or are you afraid of upstaging me" Katherine said with a pretended look of hurt.

The red-head chuckled, "no one could upstage you".

Katherine smirked, "then why don't you join in the festivities".

"Not much of a dancer".

Katherine rolled her eyes, "come on" before she knew it, the red-head felt Katherine slide her arm in hers and grab her, dragging her towards the center, and practically shoving her into the circle, just in time for the change in partners, entrapping the girl inside the dance. She scowled at Katherine who simply laughed as her sister began to be twirled around the group.

The younger sister, tried her best to keep Katherine in view as she danced, but it was found to be extremely difficult, seeing as she was spinned and passed down every few minutes. That it until yet again, she felt someone grab her arm and pulled her out.

"Why must everyone drag me by the arm today" she huffed.

"Well excuse me, I thought you'd like a good view when the show started", the red-head looked up to see a familiar blonde grinning at her.

"Allison !, thank the gods."

Allison gave her hand a little wave of indifference, "no need, did you really think I'd let you miss this".

The two girl sprinted towards a nearby wall, and as if on cue, Katherine could be seen being lead by Hamish towards the center.

"May I have everyone's attention please" the boy called. The music stopped mid-play, causing the others to turn their attention to the young couple, nearby, the two girls grinned ear to ear at what was about to happen. Hamish took Katherine's hands into his own and kneeled down.

"My dear and beloved Katherine, I never thought a girl like you could ever see any worth in me, and never thought I could ever meet someone as kind and caring either, and now, I never want to lose that".

"Hamish I. . . . " Katherine started, blushing from his praise, but soon stopped and gave a small gasp as he pulled a small box out of his pocket.

Opening the box, showing a golden ring. "Will you marry me Katherine ?"

The girl was leaking tears of joy at his words. Katherine placed her hand at him, signifying she wanted him to put the ring on her, "what do you think" she whispered.

_End Flashback_

* * *

Astrid smiled, "that was such a beautiful proposal".

Gothi nodded, "indeed it was, Allison was a dear family friend, and the moment she accepted, the two of us dashed over their and embraced the happy pair, the entire village was cheering"

"So what happened next ?"

The elder's eyes darkened, "that's when things started going downhill ".

* * *

_Flashback_

That night, Katherine and her family all went to bed happily, thrilled to know that their own daughter would one day be wife of the chief. The two sister's had always shared a room, a bed on each side and a chest in front either bed with each individuals belongings and a window on the middle wall in the room. It was late at night when the younger sister was asleep but the sound of the window opened, and the feel of a late autumn breeze made her lift her head from her pillow and blink open her eyes, allowing them to gain back focus just in time for her to see a wisp of black hair leave the window sill.

* * *

_End Flashback_

"Where did she go ?" Astrid asked.

The healer shook her head, "I don't know, it was so dark out that, with Katherine's black hair, she could have went anywhere and I have no idea which direction she took".

"Did she ever tell you ?"

Gothi still replied, " no, but for the next few days, both she and Allison began acting strangely"

"Strangely ?, How ?"

"They were always close together, neither hardly talked to me" Gothi explained, clearly puzzled by the memory. "Allison seemed a little more skittish for a while, I did remember seeing them go into the woods once , but when I questioned them, they both denied anything and just left".

"That must have been terrible for you" Astrid commented, feeling pity towards the old maid, to be worried and concerned about the people you care about, only to have them ignore and push you away, must be a sad thing.

In fact, the more she thought about it, that sounded a lot like how Hiccup probably felt with **her** these past few days, guilt started to rise in Astrid's chest as Gothi continued.

"But that was nothing compared to what happened only a week later "

* * *

_Flashback_

Katherine and her sister were inside their house folding clothes when a sudden knock came to the door, curious, the younger approached the door, unlocking it and taking the handle to open it.

But immediately regretted it. The moment it was open, the younger found herself forced onto the ground as a group of viking men swarmed the home, once she got to her feet, what she saw made her heart sink.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, LET ME GO, LET ME GO !" Katherine could be seen struggling to free herself from their grip, but every time she freed a hand another grabbed it again, it was useless, she was outnumbered.

Her sister screamed, scared and in frantic, though she wanted to help, she found herself paralyzed with fear, frightened and in panic, the stress took over her, she felt weak, her legs wobbled, as her body met the floor, darkness covered her vision, and unconsciousness took her over.

She woke up back in her house, the laundry in disarray, the door still opened and her sister nowhere to be seen, running up the stairs, she looked up to check their room. While her side was neat and clean as it always was, Katherine's blankets were on the ground, her wooded chest was opened with it's lock broken, clear sign that someone had a hard time with it, and any content inside it now emptied.

Tears fell down the younger's eyes, she dashed down the stairs and flew right out of the house, blinded by fear and confusion, she didn't stop to see a viking walking passed her, until she collisioned with him. Picking herself off the ground, she stood in front of the man, praying for an answer.

"Where is my sister ?" she choked through her sobs.

The man looked up at her, realizing she didn't know what was going on and tried to calm her down, "dear you must understand it. . . .

"WHERE IS SHE" she cried, angry, sad and confused.

He sighed, and took her hand, "I'll show you".

He led her down to the prison of Berk, all the cells she could see were empty. Until he led her down towards the last cell, inside, tufts of black hair and icy blue eyes could be seen on the young woman held inside the almost completely empty prison building.

"Katherine !" she gasped, running towards the bar door.

"Sis" Katherine cried with joy, taking her sibling's hands into her own.

"I'll give you two some time alone, your boat will be leaving soon" the man announced, Katherine nodded and he walked away.

"Boat ?" the red-head asked, "what boat ? Why are you here ? What happened ?" she demanded.

Katherine sighed, "I'm being banished, their putting me on a boat and setting me for the edge of the world."

"WHAT ?" she couldn't believe what she was hearing, she shook her head, "no, no they can't do that, I can't lose you" she cried, tears already beginning to leave once again.

Katherine took her thumb and wiped her sister's tears away, "I'm afraid they can".

"What crime could you have possible have committed ?"

Katherine's eyes darkened, "I've been accused of witchcraft".

"Withcraft !" the girl screeched, taking a step back, "no" she shook her head, "no that can't be true, please tell me it's not true !"

"I only did a few spells, I've never cursed anyone, or hurt anything, it was just a hobby" Katherine quickly grabbed her sister's hands to prevent her from running away, "please. . . I didn't mean for this to happen" Katherine defended.

"Then why did you do it".

Katherine turned her head, not meeting her sister's gaze, "curiosity ?" her shoulders slumped, "stupidity. . . I thought _maybe_ if I practiced enough, I could use it for the good of the village. . .but now. . . ." her voice trailed off.

"I. . . . I guess this is good-bye"

Katherine nodded, "yeah. . . .but wait !" Katherine put her arms on her neck and unlatched the necklace around her throat.

"Here, take this, as a memory of me", she placed it in her sister's hand. It was a round, golden locket, Katherine had it for years, she never took it off, in fact it was probably only by luck that she still had it, her sister now understood why her sister's belongings were taken from her. Anything Katherine had owned would be burned or destroyed in case of being "cursed", or "hexed", this locket was too precious to risk.

The younger nodded, "I will".

Katherine gave a weak smile, "you better go, I'll be leaving soon".

"I wish their was something I could do".

The dark-headed nodded, "So do I".

* * *

_End Flashback_

"I didn't watch the boat leave, I couldn't take it" Gothi muttered, a tear threatening to come out from the depressing memory.

Astrid put a hand on hers, "are you alright, do you need something".

The healer shook her head, "no thank you dear, I'm alright".

Astrid nodded before speaking again. "Not that I'm complaining, but what does this have to do with me"?

Gothi stood up, walking back towards the chest and pulling out another piece of paper, "I think this might answer your question".

She unrolled the second scroll. to reveal yet again another portrait. Astrid's eyes popped open wide, a gasp escaped her lips and she suddenly felt extremely light headed.

The picture showed three girls happy together, the first was clearly Katherine, the second was of a girl, shorter, with light red hair and the same ice blue eyes, probably her sister, a younger Gothi, but it was the third that caught her attention.

Her eyes were also blue, but not as light, more of an azure blue than an light ice blue really, her light blonde hair was down by her shoulders in waves and her bangs were covering most of one of her eyes, she gave a small, light pink lipped smile, her face identical to Astrid's.

"Who. . . .who is that" Astrid said quietly, stuttering to form words.

Gothi pointed to the girl Astrid was referring too, "_that_ is Allison".

**(Sooooooooooo what do you think, now I didn't give away the entire back story because 1) What fun is that and 2) Katherine's main focus is Astrid, so naturally the main problem went down with Allison, but we can only get Gothi's perspective, with that said, read and Review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	9. Chapter 9: The Locket Inside The Chest

**READ FIRST, READ FIRST, PLEASE, BEFORE YOU CONTINUE- Now in memory of 9/11, I ask everyone here to go to my profile, where a video link and a message has been posted in honor, this message and link will stay on my page until Wednesday of next week, please go to it.**

**(Welcome back, now I KNOW that I seem to be very wishy-washy with this fic, but if you go to my profile, you will see a full schedule of this week's updates that I INTEND to keep, with that said, chapter 9)**

Her heart felt like it was beating a thousand times a minute, trying to jump out through her throat, as Allison's eyes poured through her's, mocking her with an identical face. Astrid's breaths felt heavier and heavier, her pulse going to a faster and faster pace, her head felt like someone was pounding inside it with a hammer. She began to twitch and shake and-

"Astrid !"

Astrid snapped out of her state of panic at the feeling of a hand on her shoulder and the sound of the old woman.

Her limbs felt tense and her body felt cold, looking down, she saw that she was now clenching Allison's portrait, gripping it, wrinkling the sides of the parchment. "What happened" Astrid slurred, discovering it now difficult to form words.

Gothi's eyes dimmed down, "Katherine must be more powerful than I thought she would be. . . . .I believe she's hexed you ?"

"Hex ?. . . . What's a hex ?" Astrid said nervously of what exactly had happened to her.

The elder placed her hand on Astrid's forehead, "lay down" she commanded and Astrid obliged.

"A hex is using the mind's emotions against it, heightening them dramatically and weakening the body" she explained, "I didn't think she could have enough power to do such a feat", Gothi placed a bony finger near her eye, "close you're eyes".

"Why ?" Astrid asked warily, . . . .half guessing Gothi was going to start hexing her herself.

_"No this is Gothi she wouldn't hurt me"_ Astrid thought, "_but. . . . . you never know"_.

"To contact my sister" she explained, walking towards one of her many cabinets she pulled out a tube a merky yellow liquid, "you can call to her in sleep", she handed Astrid the tube, "drink !" .

Astrid's lips began to twitch in curved shapes, clear signs of disgust at the look of the formula now in her grasp, with a better view, she could see specks of brown mixed inside the ruddy, dark yellow color, her eyes darted back to Gothi, face in full expectancy she drink it. Astrid gulped, and gave a quick, half-scared nod.

Using her thumbnail, Astrid undid the cork on the top, she held her breath, not allowing herself to smell what she expected to be a foul stench, gulping the liquid down through the back of her throat, giving her only the small traces of a sour and bitter taste.

But almost immediately after the taste came to her throat, Astrid's head began to feel light and dizzy, the room began to spin and blur before her eyes, black specks started blinking into her vision. She groaned, putting her hand on her head, her limbs felt weak and wobbly, it was taking too much energy to even keep her head up now. Laying back down, Astrid's eyes grew heavy, and she allowed them to close. But as soon as she did so, her mind went blank.

* * *

Soon enough, Astrid found herself once again in the Berk forest at night, _"does this girl have any original ideas"_ she thought. But she did have to give credit. Everything felt so real ! The crunching sound of pine needles under her boots as she began walking, the echos of night creatures in the area, even a soft breeze could be felt through her skin, if she didn't know any better, Astrid would have truly believed she really was in the forest late at night.

But it also made Astrid began to question, just how far_ could_ Katherine go, just how much power _did_ she have ?

_"No__". _She thought, _"you can't show fear"._

Astrid took a deep breath and held it for several seconds, until finally releasing it and crying out the name of her new adversary "Katherine".

Only silence. . . . . . "Katherine ?" she called again, louder, yet still unsure, and only given soft wind as response.

Astrid clenched her teeth, after all this witch had put her through, she _refused_ to be ignored now. "KATHERINE" she demanded.

"Now, now, no need to shout".

To the sound of the voice behind her, Astrid quickly turned to find Katherine in all her glory, facing her, her lips curved into a sweet and humble smile, her eyes bright, a pure look of innocence, at first glance, you would never guess such a sweet looking girl would dare to even hurt a fly, but Astrid could see straight through it, she_ knew_ of the wretchedness inside.

Looking at her reaction, Katherine shaped her mouth in a pout, "awww, is something troubling you dear ?" she gave a small pity smile, "you want to talk about it ?"

With little to no patience left, Astrid tightened her fists, "I. Have. Had. ENOUGH with you" she shouted.

Katherine smiled at Astrid's actions, "oh" she said innocently, "is that so ?" Katherine touched her neck with four fingers, as though she was choking back a sob, "I'm hurt Astrid"

She smiled, "really _I am_"

Astrid, anger fueling her confidence, looked her in the eye, "alright, listen up, _this_ is how it's going to work, _I'm_ going to wake up, _you're_ going to fix the mess you've made and then your going to Leave. Us. _Alone_." she spoke in her coldest, chilling, authority demanding voice she could make, trying to intimidate the other.

But the ghost only gave a light chuckle, crossing her arms together and placing a sweet simper on her lips, "well, well, well, seems like we have already have everything figured out now don't we ?"

Astrid, at first shocked then angered at Katherine's taking on their confrontation, started to shake her head slowly with disgust and loathing, "you're a _monster_" she spat.

But the moment she said those words Katherine's face fell, her smile melted into a hate-filling sneer, "and you're _rude_".

Astrid glared, "you better leave us alone or-

"or WHAT ?" Katherine demanded, Astrid now taking a step back at the new sound of hostility. But was soon turned to a snicker, "you'll kill me ?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Astrid's eyes widened in surprise, in truth she didn't exactly know**_ how_**, she could threaten her, and now her bluff was called, it only frustrated her more as she glared daggers at the ebony haired spirit, clenching her fists.

Katherine giggled again, finding grand humor in Astrid's troubles and frustration, "oh how quaint, you're going to kill a ghost" she continued to laugh at the nonsense it was.

Though she was indeed angry, the way Katherine just calmly spoke and called her out, worried her, but Astrid quickly tried to shrug off any doubt and spoke, "you don't scare me".

Once again she stopped laughing and smiling, her tone turned much more serious as she leaned forward to the blonde.

"_Don't_ underestimate me Astrid, you have _no idea_ what I'm capable of".

Pulling back, Katherine gave one last chuckle, enjoying her position of intimidation and authority. Putting her index finger and thumb together ,she looked back up at Astrid, and snapped them, "you're move"

_*Snap*_

* * *

Astrid's eyes snapped right open, she found herself back in Gothi's hut, her hair damp with sweat, but she wasn't worried about that, she wasn't worried about anything, all she could think of was the smoldering fury rising in her veins.

Back there Katherine had the ability to look down on her, humiliate her and make her feel small, but the worst part was that. . . . she allowed it. She _allowed_ herself to be intimidated by her opponent.

But she wouldn't again.

"Well ?" Gothi asked.

Astrid shook her head, "she won't leave us voluntarily" she looked the healer straight in the eye, her tone becoming more vital and anxious, "I _need_ to know how to defeat her, do you have anything that could help me ?"

Gothi's lip tightened, turning her head left and right directions, as though she half-expected Katherine to be behind her before turning back to Astrid, "I may have one thing".

She placed a bony hand on her neck, pulling to reveal a thin leather cord around it, made in the same color as her vest in order to keep it hidden. Pulling it over her neck to show a small, simple copper key dangling on the end.

"After my sister's banishment I made her a memorial" her face fell, "I wanted to remember her as my _sister_, not a _criminal_, when it happened, I took anything of her's I could that the village hadn't already destroyed". She held the key up in front of Astrid, "in a chest, under that plaque, this key will unlock it, you might find something inside".

Astrid snatched the key from her, seeing it as her last hope to end this problem, "thank you".

"I placed the plaque by the edge of the forest by the cliff-side" Gothi looked to the door, "you must go now, before she comes back".

She nodded, Astrid and Toothless quickly exited the hut and flew out from the sea-stack and towards the cliff-side.

Down at the cliff-side Astrid unhitched from the reptile and stamped onto the land searching for the plaque. Toothless dropped his snout on the dirt, sniffing for any unnatural scents or feelings around him. It took several minutes of examining surrounding rock and gravel, looking for any writings scripted in it until- - -

"Hisssssssss" Toothless hissed and growled, Astrid turned her head to him, "hey Toothless ?" she asked, trying to place a hand on his snout but he quickly jerked his head away, "Toothless what is it ?" She began backing away from him, her hands in front of her, now wary of the dragon in aggravated condition, slowly walking back, until her foot felt something smooth under it, slipping the heel and tripping her to the ground.

Landing flat in the dirt, Toothless, sensing Astrid might be injured went to help pick her up, allowing her to lean on his snout, smoothing her skirt, careful to avoid the spikes, and scuffing down the dirt from the leather. Looking down, she could see his eyes turned back into kind pupils, showing that what ever he felt was now over. But once Astrid's blue eyes rested on what she slipped on, she bent back down, seeing traces of black writing on the gray stone, she began wiping off any dirt on it and dig her nails against the earth at the sides of the rock.

_Kath ri e_

_Loving Si er_

_Dau hter_

_A d Fr end _

Astrid rolled her eyes at the words, some faded and missing, but still legible enough to understand.

She pulled the stone out of the ground and continued digging, she felt the dirt go into her fingernails and even felt the tops of them breaking off, but she didn't care, soon enough, Astrid's fingers brushed against what no longer felt like loose dirt, but now something cool and hard, not unlike metal.

Her eyes widened, gripping the ends of the metal, she pulled the object out. Now in her view, and scuffing off the last of soil, seeing in more detail, she could see it was a small copper box, on the top was what looked like a peacock, jewels embedded it's body and large, multi-colored stones made up it's feathers, flower and vine designs were spread across the box's sides, and each flower had a semi-precious jewel in it's center as well it.

Astrid was impressed, the box (though small) had very impressive engravings and detail go into it and looked like it could bring a good sum of money, then again, Gothi had said Katherine was _very_ much admired and was courting the Chief heir. Finding the keyhole, Astrid placed the box down on the ground and pushed the key inside, having to twitch and turn it till a small _*click*_ could be heard.

She smiled greedily at her success, opening the lid. For a small chest, not much could be put inside it, scrumming though old letters, (nothing Astrid read of value) a dried, deep purple flower, a small silk pouch, (emptied of anything of use), and a light yellow ribbon, nothing in here seemed to be helpful for her situation. Astrid gave a low sigh of defeat, everything here could supply no harm to Katherine and no protection for herself. She was about to close the box until. . . . _something else_ caught her eye.

A faint glimmer, barely caught pass the corner of her eye, curious and some-what hopeful, the blonde rummage at the other items until her eyes became rested upon the source of the light, a small, golden locket.

Wrapping her fingers around the chain, she held it up to the light of day, it glittered with pure exquisiteness in the bright sun.

Astrid's eyes shimmered, she didn't know why. . . . but she began finding herself purely _fascinated_ with the piece of jewelry, bringing it back down, she developed the want to put it around her neck. Almost unconsciously unhooking the chain and leading her hands closer to her chest, the metal chilled at Astrid's neck once the charm touched the skin, her hands going to the back of her head and clasping the necklace back in place.

Astrid placed her hand to stroke the locket as- - - "_hello_"

In a matter of seconds, the teen had gotten back to her feet, spun around, facing the opposite side of the cliff with her ax off her belt and in her hand, "who's there ?" she asked, only to curse under her breath at the shakiness her tone formed.

"_Wait, you can hear me_ ?" the voice asked hopefully.

The blonde looked to her sides and peered closer at the edge of the forest, "yeah. . .but where are you ?"

Toothless raised an eye, clearly unconcerned about the voice Astrid was hearing, "Toothless don't you hear that ?" she asked, upset that Toothless looked in indifference to the sound of a unknown voice.

The reptile only shook his head, and took a few steps back from Astrid, slowly and carefully.

_"He can't hear me"_.

"Who are you, where are you ?" Astrid demanded, even more confused as before. The voice was silent for a few minutes until speaking again, _"I'm in the locket"._

But what came next is what really scared Astrid once the voice continued, "_and_ _my name. . . . . . is Allison_".

**(WHY IS ALLISON IN THE LOCKET ?, I don't know. . . . .well technically I do, but _you_ don't, By The Way, I'm thinking about putting possession in this fic, what do you think ? See you tomorrow, Read and Review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	10. Chapter 10:Allison

**(So I know I said this would be out this weekend, but there were a few. . . .complications in my path these last few days and things in my life just kept getting in the way but I AM TRYING, with that said, On With The Show !)**

"Allison !, as in Katherine's friend", Astrid said aghast.

_"It looks like my reputation proceeds me"_

Astrid held the locket to her face, "how are you here ?, _Why _are you here, inside a locket ?"

The lcoket began to feel colder in Astrid's hands, the voice turned into a sad and depressed timbre. "_After I died, instead of my soul being lifted to Vallhala, Katherine trapped it inside her necklace_"

Astrid's eyes widened in relation, back in the woods. . . . what was Katherine wearing ? A long silk gray dress, no shoes, and a. . . . . .Astrid gulped, a _golden locket_ . She was _wearing_Katherine's locket !

In panic, she reached to the back of her neck for the hook of the chain, wanting nothing more than to rid herself of the vile pendant.

"_No don't please_ !" Allison begged, "_please don't lock me back in there_".

Her hand froze centimeters away from the chain, she thought back, how long had Allison been dead ? For years of course. . . .and to have to spend day after day of that time probably being tortured and hexed, trapped around a witch's throat until death took her as well. Only to be returned to misery by being locked up inside a copper box under the earth like a living corpse in it's grave.

Sensing Astrid had not cut contact and still wore the necklace, Allison spoke again, "_I sense you've been touched by dark magic, Katherine's magic, am I wrong ?_"

Astrid's thoughts ringed alarm, how could Allison_ sense_ something like that ? "No you're right, I came here to find a way to defeat her or protect myself, but there's nothing here" Astrid admitted in defeat.

The locket developed a warmer aura to it, a friendly semblance, "_maybe there is ?"_

"What do you mean ?"

"Well. . .i_f it's true that Katherine has lost her mortal body and is now a spirit she is not as powerful as she would be with a constitution, and even though I'm trapped, the presence of my soul should give you a form of protection_" she explained.

Astrid found a lifting sensation fill her at Allison's words and immediately bolted off from the cliff-side, running as fast as her legs could carry her, Toothless now following pursuit with her, Astrid's mind fully settled on one destination.

"_Where are we going ?_"

But Astrid didn't answer, she just kept running, dodging fallen tree limbs and running past circling bushes and trees. Once she reached the village, her heart began beating faster in anticipation. Few people looked back at her curiously but continued on their way a few moments later. Astrid didn't stop until she reached the Haddock house again.

Once she stopped, she had to take deep breaths, to try and gain back a steady amount of oxygen in her lungs, before banging on the door at a rapid hard speed, so loud she was sure someone had to hear her. It was several minutes of hard strikes at the wood, her fist going back and forth at the door until it was opened and she realized she was now only hitting at the air.

"I suppose yer here for eh second visit" A blonde viking man asked.

"Gobber ?, what are you doing here ?"

Gobber chuckled, "now you don't think Stoick would just leave his ailing son alone while he was busying running the village ?"

Astrid mentally kicked herself, like Stoick would leave his only son alone while he was in such a state of health. "May I come in ?"

The elder viking nodded and opened the door wider for her to enter, but when she made her way to the first step of the stair-case, Gobber put a hand on her shoulder. Astrid turned her face to meet his, "something wrong ?"

Gobber rubbed his neck, "well uh actually Astrid, I need to talk to you. . . .I need to ask. . . what _exactly_ happened with Hiccup".

"What do you mean ?"

"Those herbs Gothi gave Hiccup. . those weren't normal healing herbs. . .they were just simple tea leaves, nothing special. . . . .is there something you didn't tell us" Gobber asked suspiciously.

"Oh well I. . . ." Astrid's voice trailed off, not just that Gobber was catching on, but that if Gothi hadn't given Hiccup anything that meant she really _didn't_ have anything to help against Katherine, that meant her life, Hiccup's life, the future of Berk. . . . . . it all depended on her.

"Astrid ?"

"Huh, what ?" Astrid asked, being pulled out of her thoughts, "oh yes" she'd been silent for a few minutes, "yes. . .I MEAN NO. . .no I mean, no, I'm. . I'm fine, he's fine", she stuttered her words together.

_"Nice save"_ Allison said with a coating of sarcasm.

"Are you sure ?" Gobber asked questionable of Astrid's new behavior, she sounded less like Astrid and more like. . . well Hiccup !"

"Yeah. . .yeah I'm fine" she nodded nervously and began backing forward to the stairs, "so I'm just going to see him and _*oof*_ " she hit one of the wooden pillars, "yeah I'm just gonna. . .gonna go bye" she rushed and quickly started running up the stairs, leaving a very, _very_confused Gobber.

"That was close" Astrid breathed.

_"So who's that_ ?"

"Long story", Astrid approached Hiccup's bed with the boy still asleep, she gave a small smile, "you said you can protect someone from Katherine right ?"

_"Yeah, but why are we here ?_"

Astrid looked at the golden locket and took a deep breath, "he needs protection more than I do".

_"No WAIT DON'T_" Allison panicked.

"Don't ?, Look. At. _Him_, this is what Katherine's done to him. . . . .because of me". Astrid defended, her voice trailing down with guilt on the last three words.

_"Astrid listen to me, she won't hurt him_"

"Won't hurt him ! LOOK at him !"

The necklace started to burn even hotter, hot that it even began to sting her skin slightly. "_Ugh"_Allison groaned in annoyance, _"she's put magic on him, but it was charming not hexing"._

"It doesn't matter what kind of magic, the fact is that she's used magic on him, he needs this more than me and I'm going to help him" Astrid stated in utmost certainty.

She could almost image Allison scowling at her, _" well you can't help if your dead, and that seems to be Kat's top priority right now, believe me, he's safer than you, protecting yourself is the best way to help him"._

Astrid thought this over, before deciding to put her hand away from the locket, now cooling down, allowing it to continue dangling from her neck, she sighed, her eyes lurking down helplessly at her friend. "Then how _do_ I help him", her voice now barely a whisper.

_"If I remember correctly, Katherine told me about a potion that could protect someone from dark spirits, there might still be a vile of it in her old lair"._

"Her lair ?" Astrid questioned, but immediately mentally kicked herself for, of course she'd have a hiding place to practice magic in, "so where do I find this lair ?"

"_The hidden entrance is inside the Berk forest_" Allison instructed, "_I remember the directions and can lead you there_".

"Great, when do we start-

"Astrid ?" came a groan.

Hiccup's eyes opened slightly, still dazed, it was clear he was only half-awake and had just now woken up.

Astrid froze, she hoped Hiccup hadn't heard her talking to Allison, a person only _she_ could hear, he'd probably call her crazy. "Yeah Hiccup. . . .but I was just leaving anyway, sorry to bother you, you can go back to sleep" she made her way to the door.

"No wait !" he slurred, though still not entirely alert, it was clear he wanted her to stay.

She couldn't help but smile, his pleading green eyes, shining bright and clear instead of hazy and empty.

"_We need to go !_" Allison urged.

"Just a second" Astrid whispered.

"What did you say I couldn't hear you" Hiccup asked.

Astrid smiled, "just saying I could stay for a second or two" she said nonchalantly, though she could already feel the locket reheating itself in Allison's irritation, she pulled up a chair. "How you feeling ?"

"Still tired ?" he chuckled, "I guess you think I'm just being lazy".

Astrid chuckled at his teasing, how laid back he was about this, it made her almost forget that the cause of this was an angry ghost, it almost felt like he was just getting over a cold or something. But that what was so great about Hiccup, he didn't dwell on things like that, even after he lost his leg, HIS LEG, for goodness sakes, the first thing he did when he woke up from a COMA was go FLYING !

"Well I don't know. . . ." she teased, "I'll give. . . um _one_ more day but after that, you still in here, I'll just have to get Stormfly help me _drag_ you to the academy".

The two laughed at their banter, and Toothless gave a strange sound in the back of his throat that Astrid could only assume was the dragon equivalent of a laugh. After a few more chuckles though, Hiccup cleared his throat, signifying he needed to talk and Astrid listened. "Actually I almost forgot, I have something for you. . . for your birthday, it's on my desk, let me just get-

"No, you lay back down" Astrid said firmly, gently pushing him back down as he tried to pull himself up, though he was having a conversation with her, it was clear that talking was taking more than enough energy out of him, energy that he didn't have for getting out of bed.

"I'll get it",she answered, getting out of her chair and towards his desk, littered with sketches and drawings, and charcoal pencils, and on the corner, a small blue box tied with a yellow ribbon on top. Picking up the box, she showed it to him, "this it ?"

He nodded as Astrid sat herself back down, the box in her hands, "open it" Hiccup spoke softly.

Putting her hand on the ribbon, carefully untieing it, Astrid allowed the ribbon to drop down onto the floor and took off the lid.

Astrid gasped in surprise, "Hiccup I. . . . ." she was at lost for words, "thank you" she mouthed.

It was a silver charm bracelet, 14 charms in all and every other charm was the sparkly blue of a nadder scale. Of the 7 individual charms, one of a shiny, miniature ax, one of a harebell flower, one of a lyre, one of the sun, one of the moon, one charm had an actual gem embedded in it in the shape of a star, and the last was of her own family crest, a serpent with it's tail wrapped around a tree with it's branches in ablaze.

The effort put into the piece of jewelry was clear as day, the serpent looked so real that Astrid could almost feel it move around the burning tree, the lyre had actual miniature strings embedded in it, she wouldn't have been surprised if she strummed it, it would actually create a musical tune, even the ax had teeny tiny engravings on it identical to her own ax's designs, Hiccup must have taken a _lot_ of his time to complete this project.

Hiccup, at first warily of Astrid's speechlessness, but then delighted as a smile grew on her as she traced her finger along the charms, he allowed himself to chuckle, "I take it you like it ?"

"I love it" she breathed, "here" she put her wrist out, "help me put it on ?"

Hiccup obliged, putting the silver chain around her wrist and hooked it in place. Astrid raised her hand towards the open window, allowing sunlight to give a pleasant shine to the bracelet, she twisted her wrist, making the charms hit each other, creating a soft chime to echo in the room.

_"Uh I hate to break this extremely important visit"_ Allison said dryly, "_but. . . . evil ghost, magic potion, future of Berk in jeopardy, RING A BELL !"_

"Ahhh" Hiccup groaned suddenly, putting a hand to his head, this snapping Astrid's attention back to the reality and importance of the situation at hand, "you okay ?" she asked with concern.

"Yeah. . . " Hiccup moaned, "just a small headache, nothing too bad".

Astrid bit her bottom lip, "maybe. . . .maybe you should rest".

Hiccup's eyes widened, "n. . .no, I'm fine, really I am", Astrid sighed, she could tell he was still tired, he just didn't want to admit it.

"Hiccup you need to rest, I'll be back soon enough", but Hiccup still didn't look convinced, so Astrid had to try more to convince him, she took his hand into her own making Hiccup blush shyly, "I promise Hiccup, by tomorrow, everything's going to get straighten out".

Toothless poked his head up to Hiccup, signifying he wanted attention, Hiccup obliged, petting his snout comfortingly while Toothless purred with delight. Satisfied, Hiccup layed back down and close his eyes, allowing his exhaustion to overcome him once again.

_"Are you satisfied now, because we're kind of on a deadline here ?"_

Astrid nodded in agreement, "Toothless" she said, her voice so soft only Toothless's trained dragon ears could sense it, perking up and turning back to her, "come on, we have work to do".

Toothless went back up to her, allowing her to board onto his back and fly out the window.

Astrid turned her attention to the locket, "where to Allison ?"

* * *

"This it ?"

"_That's it_"

After what felt like hours of nothing but going around tree after tree, Toothless and Astrid finally were stopped by the spirit of the locket. It was a great oak tree, true it indeed was "great", the wood was at least 47 ft. tall and at least 4 ft. in width, but other than it's great size, nothing about it seemed to stand out that made Astrid see how either Katherine or Allison could have identified it as a passageway.

"You sure ?"

_"Look to the other side of it"_ Allison instructed.

Astrid raised an eye-brow but did as she told, putting her hand across the side of it's trunk. All it was was hard, gray, tree bark, until. . . . . the substance changed.

"_*gasp*_"

Astrid put her hand away from tree, the rough substance she felt had turned softer, _smoother_, looking at where her hand was, a thin trail was of what Astrid could only describe as a 'black moss'. Toothless sniffed the black substance but quickly hissed at it and turned away.

Looking more closely, she could see the trail of black moss going down to the other side of the tree, leading to a small black knot in the wood, the exact size of the locket.

"So I just need to put it in ?" Astrid asked, gripping the locket, as if to see if it was still there.

"_Exactly, you're catching on_"

Reluctantly Astrid unclasped the chain, allowing the necklace to slide down off her neck and fall into her palm. Almost instantly an empty and hollow feeling came to her brain, as if someone had made a large hole in the center of her head, a sign that her connection with Allison had been cut off.

Holding the locket itself up with two fingers, she placed the pendent in the small knot on the side of the tree, fitting perfectly.

The locket started to glow inside it's place inside the tree trunk, Astrid took a step back as-

_*Creeeeeeeeeeeeak*_

A hidden hatch in the base of the tree revealed itself for the blonde.

She walked closer to the hatch, looking down, a staircase came into her view. Toothless looked down it as well, and gave a low growl, sensing the dark magic inside it.

Astrid just now realized she was holding her breath and quickly released it. She leaned her head as far as she could without stepping any closer to the hatch, looking down at the stairs leading down into an chasm of dark shadows she couldn't see pass.

She gulped and took a second step towards the stair-case, Toothless wined in alarm, warning her that she shouldn't go down there. Astrid turned to Toothless, his pleading eyes aware of the danger that hid inside, "Toothless that hatch holds the only thing that can save Hiccup, we_need_ to go down there".

Toothless gave a small growlish wine, he would do anything for Hiccup, but he didn't feel right about this passageway either. Making up his mind, the night-fury grabbed a fallen tree limb with his mouth and dropped it at Astrid's feet.

Astrid gave a soft smile as Toothless made a small plasma blast at the end of the branch, enlightening it, Astrid grabbed the other end of the wood and stomped at a few blades of grass that Toothless caught fire as well. "Thank you Toothless".

Toothless went down the first few steps and waited for her to follow. Astrid closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, against every thought, every instinct, every feeling in her body to turn back from this. . . . .she released her breath and opened back her eyes. She jerked the locket out of it's socket in the tree and made her way down the steps.

As her footprints echoed down the stairway, she could hear the sound of the hatch closing back in place.

**(Love it, hate it, comment ! Next one should be out soon enough, Read and Review and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


	11. Chapter 11: Astrid's Move

**(I. HATE. SEPTEMBER. You know why ? Because after they finish sugar-coating you you're first month of a new school year, the second month is when they give you EVERYTHING THEY CAN ! Long story short, September has been becoming a very stressful month for me, luckily I could finish this, hopefully I can update my other fics soon as well, anyway, that's why I'm late, with that said- _*On With The Show*_)**

Astrid stood in front of a large stone door, swirls, shapes and other strange symbols were engraved into it. Looking down she could see a small door handle sticking out on the side of the entrance. Wanting nothing more than to get in and out and finally leave this nightmare behind her, Astrid put her hand out for it, but as she reached for the handle-

_"I wouldn't"_ Allison warned.

"OW" Astrid shrieked.

A large flick of electricity bolted into her skin. She quickly backed away from it, rubbing her good hand over her other one, still stinging and slowly turning numb.

_"I told you, it isn't that easy"_ Allison scolded her.

The blonde grumbled, she hated to admit when she was wrong, especially if someone were to scold her about it, looking closer, she saw no keyhole or lock for access. Astrid put three fingers on the locket, "so exactly how _do_ I get in ?"

_"The combination is simple" _Allison explained_ "Look at the pictures, pick the five pointed star, turn the three ringed circle, press on the arrow head and knock on the rose symbol three times"._

Astrid listened attentively to her directions and took a deep breath, her hand began shaking as she started reaching out to touch one of the engravings, her skin began to tingle and prickle at the cold stone, and a tiny shock of electricity bit through her finger, but this time, was easily ignorable, seeing as she wasn't technically trying to force her way in as she did at first.

After knocking on the rose engraving three times, Astrid bit her lip and gripped the door handle again, flicking her wrist slowly to the right. Her eyes closed in sweet bliss and relief once she heard the door click, allowing her to pull it open. Cobwebs and specks of dust flew out and into the air around Astrid, making her cough and gagged at the musty substance, now covering her mouth she definitely had a good idea on how long it had been since someone had last entered the chamber.

The blonde walked through the door, at first completely dark but one by one, the torches hooked on the walls sensed her presence and immediately enlightened with flames; Astrid jumped up in shock, gripping the locket with both fists for protection against the dark magic.

Realizing it was nothing more than a simple magic trick, Astrid mentally kicked herself for her actions and cursed under her breath; while trying to also calm her now racing heart-beat. "Hiccup" she thought, she was doing this to help Hiccup.

Walking through the now lightened room her eyes bugged out, her mouth opened wide at the view of her surroundings. The lair had a tall bookcase filled with several pages of what Astrid could only guess what kind of information. The entire antechamber floor was covered in sand, the small remains of what looked like old drawings could still be seen in the corner of the room; beside it was what looked like the remains of an old bonfire with the remaining burnt wood and ashes. A large item stood near the center with a large, deep purple drape put over it, not allowing Astrid from seeing what was under it. But beside the hidden object was a work bench. Astrid could see it was covered with a few pendents, some stray papers and what she was looking for. . . a few corked up viles and potions.

_"It's a dark red color. . . kind of looks like wine"_ Allison identified.

At first Astrid was excited, but quickly melted into fear and restraint. Was she really going to do this ? Use _magic_ ? Isn't that what started the problem in the first place ?

Astrid approached the bench, her legs felt heavy like iron, she felt as though she wasn't walking but merely _dragging_ her feet over to the wooded table, whether it was wariness for what she was about to do or some sort of protection magic of it's own, she wasn't sure.

Reaching it, Astrid allowed her hand to linger above the potions, tapping the air around her fingers, her eyes searching for the right color vial. Eyes sifting through greens, blues, yellows, and a pink until the optics fell upon a dark rouge liquid. Happily surprised, Astrid grabbed the glass quickly with anticipation, her reflection gleamed through the deep scarlet potion.

Putting two fingers of her other hand out, she stroked the bottle. All her fear was lifting away, the feeling of power and control returned to her, her confidence restoring. A dark, twisted grin began forming and deepening onto her pale lips as she mumbled two, chilling words.

"You're move."

* * *

What she felt didn't last long though. Astrid clenched the liquid in her hand, by this time the sky was dark, she just now left the hidden chamber, the only sounds were of the chirping crickets echoing inside the grim forest, Astrid felt the waryness come back to her, like a plague as the beads of sweat pour down her brow. Why should she feel this way, she won right, she had the potion, she had Allison, so why did she feel so. . . ._scared_, like the weight of Katherine still held on her shoulders.

"_Hey. . .you okay_"

"Ye. .yeah. . f. .fine" Astrid stuttered unconvincingly .

It was strange and somehow cruel, the content feeling of control satisfied Astrid, but it quickly pulled away from her soon after she left Katherine's lair and began walking back to Berk, like though it was trying to mock her, but what Astrid didn't understand was. . . _why_ ?

The locket grew slightly warmer, symbolizing Allison was trying to comfort her, giving her a warm substitution to the chill of the night, _"Hey don't worry, we've_ _won"._

"I know, I know. . .it's just that. . .

"_I completely understand, but don't worry about it"._

Astrid nodded, looking around, the forest began to looked eerily similar to how it looked in Katherine's dream land, Astrid began walking a little faster out of the wood and towards the village. The village, yes, she would be safe once she was in the village, but wait. . . she was safe now !. . . . . .Wasn't she ?"

"_Careful you're going to drop it_ !" Allison hissed in scornful force.

"Excuse me ?" Astrid questioned at the sudden hostility in her new friend's voice.

Allison must have noticed it too because her voice immediately softened down "_What_ _I meant was that I don't want you to lose you're chance at this_".

Soon enough the Haddock household came into view, Astrid looked up at Hiccup's window, "Toothless, would you mind ?"

The night-fury nodded and allowed her on his back and flew to the window, luckily opened, and entered Hiccup's room.

Astrid walked towards the brunette, still asleep in his bed, she frowned, she had been lucky, what would have happened if she came any later than when she did, or if she never came at all ? She hated to think what might have happened.

Looking down at the vial, she just now realized that she was holding it with the hand with Hiccup's bracelet on it. She gave a small smile, this would fix him, it would. . . . . .it _had_ to.

_"Make sure he drinks the whole vial, not a Single. Drop. Left." _Allison instigated.

Astrid uncorked the lid from the vial and lead the formula to Hiccup's mouth, she knew he wouldn't wake up, just one glance and she could tell even after hours he was still exhausted, what Katherine did messed with his head in ways Astrid couldn't even begin to understand, but now. . . .now the chaos would be over.

She slid the tonic down his throat, it smelled spicy and sweet, like cinnamon and honey, she could only guess what it tasted like, Hiccup must have enjoyed for he smiled and opened his mouth slightly wider in his sleep, making more room for the tonic to go in. Once she was sure he had taken it all she put the now-empty glass on his nightstand.

_"We should go"_

"Go ?" Astrid questioned, "but what about-

_"The potion will take a while to settle in, plus you need to get home before you're parents get worried_"

But Astrid didn't feel right about leaving Hiccup, especially now in his sensitive state, "I could always come up with a excuse for-

"_Astrid !_" Allison persisted, the locket began to heat up, "_if anyone finds out about Katherine, about me, then what , you'll be banished like she was, and what if she has more tricks to pull, then no-one can save Hiccup , I'm still trapped remember !"_

Astrid sighed and nodded slowly, as much as she wanted to stay here with Hiccup, she knew she still had to be cautious, they weren't done yet, at least not for a little while longer.

"Okay".

* * *

Late in the night, the moon hidden by clouds, turning the sky pitch black by the Haddock house laied Hiccup fast asleep as the potion began taking it's affect.

In dream, Hiccup was flying Toothless, the sky bright and sun shining across the sea below him, laughing with delight pass the sea-stacks that stood up across the ocean. While flying higher into the clouds, the white, wet, and puffy substances hitting his face provided more exhilaration.

"Come on bud" he petted his dragon's snout, "let's try number 17 ."

The night-fury nodded, opening his wings to their full extent and shooting up to the sky like a rocket, only to fly back down, spinning his and Hiccup's bodies around whilst doing it then shooting a plasma blast down. Hiccup opened Toothless's tail out, unhooked the latch that connected him to the saddle and jumped off Toothless, through the fire ring, but caught again once again by the reptile seconds before his body could make contact with the water.

"Alright good job bud" Hiccup said, Toothless gave a happy snort in agreement.

But then, the sky began to dim, dream Hiccup looked up to see the white clouds had turned thin and dark gray in hue; the once bright clear water had turned inky black; it looked as though a dark shadow had loomed over him, but is wasn't just that, he felt. . . ._cold_, and strangely. . . _tired_, as though all of his energy was beginning to be slowly devoured away by this shadow. His head was in full alarm and he had only one thought- Run.

Hiccup looked down at his companion, "Toothless, get us out of here bud"

He nodded in agreement, his reptilian eyes now set and determined to fly out of the now dark area the shadow was placing on them. He ranged at top speed, the wind now slapping at the brunette's face harder and more painfully like a whip, but he didn't notice, the only thing he cared about was getting away from the depressing aura; and soon enough he looked to see that the water was once again shining reflected light from the bright sun.

Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief, petting Toothless for a job well done, but when he turned his head back at the ocean view behind him, he froze, his eyes filling with terror, the dark force was following them ! Quickly, like a gray dipped paint brush gliding across the landscape, gripping away the life out of everything it touched and it was coming for them !

"Toothless, come on bud we need to lose it"

The reptile tried to oblige but every time Hiccup looked back he could see the force gaining on them ready to wither them away. Toothless kept flying, faster and faster, it came to that Hiccup wasn't even looking where they were going, all he knew was that they needed to get away from the shadow.

But then, in a blur, Hiccup felt himself falling, falling down, down towards the ocean. He readied himself for the impact , yet it never came, he never felt the wet force of the water, he felt as though he was floating on air, he couldn't see Toothless, looking up to see the sky came once again dark, now it was clear, the shadow had caught him.

His neck tightened, Hiccup gasped at the sudden force around his throat and began to chock, small tears began forming out of his eyes, the darkness seemed to be turning blacker and the chocking feeling was becoming much more painful. His energy felt as though it was draining away from his body, making his body limb and numb, everything was turning into the shade of dusted charcoal.

He tried, truly he did, he tried to fight it off, but any energy or power that he could savage in his mind was being pulled away from him, swiftly and forcefully, stripping him of any will to continue.

"_Calm down, it's okay_"

That voice, he knew that voice, from somewhere, it was so distant yet so close, so soft yet vicious at the same time, like a sweet poison, he knew it would not resist in killing him yet something about it made him want to drink it in, drink in this voice and listen to it.

"_You're safe now, you must rest_"

Rest, he thought, that sounded like a good idea. With this thought the choking had begun easing on him and becoming less and less painful, his body felt chilled and numb.

"_Rest_" it repeated.

Hiccup smiled, "rest" he mouthed as the darkness engulfed him.

**(Hmmmm, I wonder what will be the effects of this potion. Will it help Hiccup ? And if so, how ? Why have such a disturbing dream then ? This many questions and more, see you soon Read and _Review_ and this is Moonlight Snowflake signing off)**


End file.
